Everybody Changes
by MorganMay444
Summary: The Golden Trio return for their final year at Hogwarts after the wizarding world has been rebuilt. This year will be a normal one, right? Wrong. Hermione soon comes face to face with a side to a certain Slytherin she never knew existed and a truce forms.
1. Chapter 1: New Year, New Beginnings

Chapter 1: New Year, New Beginnings

It was exactly 10:50am, September 1st. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stood side by side on platform nine and three quarters. They were here to complete their final year of Hogwarts, as they'd been hunting horcruxes the previous year. In fact, nearly all their fellow students had decided to re-take along with them, what with it being interrupted by war and destruction so often. The Wizarding World had taken six months to rebuild what had fallen and at long last managed to retrieve normality. Or close to normality at least. People were still mourning for their family and friends, but somehow it had gotten easier. No one had thought that possible until now.

"So, this is it." Hermione spoke first, surveying her surroundings. Old and new students flittered across the platform, parents in toe. People passing baggage to each other in order to put it on the train. Owls were hooting, cats meowing. It was loud, yet their ears heard nothing and their eyes only saw the Hogwarts Express. "Our last year." She looked down to see Ron's hand clasping hers, as it had done for the past several months. It was reassuring, and now somewhat expected.

"Should be normal enough this year." Harry glanced at the two of them with a smile. Things had been quite surreal for him since the war ended. Danger was no longer present constantly and he wasn't having to look over his shoulder all the time. It made him feel slightly useless and unnecessary, people had needed him to protect them before, but now there was nothing to protect people from. He wondered what his purpose in life was now. Of course, Ron and Hermione had told him the thought was stupid, so he no longer mentioned it. But it still lingered.

"Normal?" Ron raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Never." A grin grew across their faces and Harry sniggered, closely followed by his friends' laughter. Hermione quietened first, unable to stop wondering what a normal year would be like. It might be nice to have a quiet year at Hogwarts for a change. No fighting evil and no death. Just them, like this, having a laugh and enjoying each others company. The idea of this caused excitement to bubble in her stomach.

"Hey guys! I found a compartment!" Red hair flashed in front of them as Ginny arrived, dragging Harry and his trolley towards the train. Ron followed, pushing his trolley with one hand and pulling Hermione with the other. Crookshanks stirred when the movement jostled her cage and Hermione tried to sooth her. The men transferred their cases onto the train before they carried the remaining belongings through the carriage. Ginny ushered them into a compartment. Hermione entered after Ron to see Luna and Neville, Neville had his arm around Luna and there was a sense of new found confidence in the couple. It surprised Hermione to begin with, and she could tell it Ron had been too, as he'd faulted slightly at the door. However, the one person it seemed to affect most was Harry. He entered the compartment last and stood for a second, staring transfixed on Luna and the arm around her. It didn't last long and Hermione seemed to be the only person who noticed. It must have just been a bigger shock for him to see Luna with someone, Harry was closer to her than Ron or Hermione ever were.

"Luna, Neville! How are you?" Hermione lent forward and hugged then both at once, it seemed easier than making them separate. The two of them grinned back at her, she'd never seen Neville so happy.

"We're good thanks. What about you lot?" Neville gestured to them with his free arm before placing it back on Luna's leg. Luna had the quibbler in her lap, upside down like usual.

"Great thanks, mate." Ron nodded with a grin, sitting down and pulling Hermione down beside him. She stifled a giggle and snuggled closer to him, his arm going around her waist. Harry, who had been silent since his arrival took a seat next to Ron and Ginny sat opposite him, putting her legs up on his lap. As there wasn't enough room for them to sit cuddled like the other two couples they had to maintain contact somehow. He ran his hands soothingly across shins, his eyes were trained on his hands but Hermione could tell he was desperate to look up. Look at someone.

"Oh, I heard the news! Well done, Harry. Head boy!" Neville exclaimed proudly. He knew Harry would get it, how could he not? Harry went to thank him but was cut off.

"Oh my goodness, Luna! We heard you made Head girl! That's great news." Ginny beamed, glancing at Harry before turning to congratulate the blonde girl along with Hermione and Ron.

"So you two will be seeing a lot of each other this year." Neville was still grinning, having not noticed the strange look in Harry's eyes. The new appointed Head boy was staring at the Head girl, his eyes never leaving hers as the corners of his mouth began to twitch.

"Yeah," He nodded with sudden enthusiasm, his eyes leaving Luna's to address Neville. "We've got some good plans." Harry seemed to relax and leant back in his seat, hands still caressing Ginny's legs.

"It'll be a great year if you two are in charge." Ron looked from one Head to the other, a sly grin on his face. Hermione glanced up at him with a disapproving frown, trying her best not to show her amusement.

"We are not using their new position to our advantage, Ron. Just like we're not using the fact we're prefects either." She scolded, hitting him in the chest.

"Ouch." He rubbed the place she'd made contact with before rolling his eyes. "How did I know you'd say that?" Hermione didn't dignify the question with an answer, instead just turning her head away from him slightly. Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry who laughed quietly, eyeing his best friends cautiously.

"So…" Neville filled the now awkward silence, a hand playing with Luna's hair. "When do you guys have to go to the meeting?" They all looked up at each other in revelation. They'd almost forgotten. Harry looked at his watch before carefully lifting Ginny's feet off him.

"Now, actually. Let's go." He bent down to give Ginny a goodbye kiss as Hermione, Ron and Luna all stood. Neville sat up straight and kissed Luna's cheek as a quick farewell before the four of them left the compartment. They heard Neville ask Ginny if she wanted to play Wizard Snap as they closed the door.

Harry and Luna led the way to the Head compartment; both were muttering to each other so Ron and Hermione kept their distance. It must have been about their Head duties and what was to happen in the following meeting. Ron had a grip on his girlfriend's hand, stroking her palm with his thumb reassuringly. She didn't need reassuring though and presumed it was a way of reassuring himself, so her grip tightened a little in return. Students filled the train to almost overflowing as they walked, some they knew and some they didn't. Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender popped out of their compartment for greetings, but they had to move on very quickly or they'd be late. Ron had mentioned how different Lavender was as they'd departed. The usual talkative, giggly girl was gone. She had been a lot quieter with an air of shyness to her. Hermione had seen the large scars on Lavender's neck and the side of her face, although a scarf had been round the girl's neck in an attempt to hide them. All courtesy of Greyback.

"We're here." Luna spoke. It was the first time Hermione had heard her speak since they got on the train. The dreamy tone to her voice still lingered but was no longer as prominent, Hermione guessed it had something to do with the war and the reality of it all. It was bound to change something in everyone, however small. The look in Luna's eyes was still far off, like she was in her own little world.

"Looks like we might be the last here." Harry pushed open the compartment door gesturing for Luna to go first. She gladly did with a curt nod.

"Oh, my shoe lace. I'll be there in a second." Hermione pushed Ron towards the door, letting go of his hand gently. She bent down to tie her shoe lace quickly before also entering the compartment. Her mind was reeling with possible ideas to run by Harry for improving the school, so she didn't see the body walk into her path. Hermione knocked into someone hard, almost falling but managing to gain composure. Ron's worried voice was somewhere in the distance which meant it wasn't him she'd hit into.

"Sorry." Her eyes lifted from the floor to look directly at Draco Malfoy. She flinched, waiting for an abrasive comment about how clumsy she was, or some cocky advice about paying attention to where she was going.

"It's fine. Are you alright?" That was not what she'd expected. There wasn't even the usual annoyance in his voice. Hermione nodded, words failing her as she stared dumbfounded. He nodded his understanding before making his way to sit with Pansy on one of the sofas. This left Hermione to stare ahead of herself, still unable to do anything coherent, even moving her legs had become an impossible task. Ron rushed over, scooping her up in his strong arms and assisting her to walk towards their spot by the window. He was such a gentleman sometimes.

After a few more stragglers joined them and they all hurriedly changed into their robes, the meeting began. Harry and Luna went through the usual announcements that Hermione had heard so many times before they were basically memorised. She glanced at Ron as he listened intently, his memory wasn't as good as hers so he had to listen to every word carefully. This made her smile and she snaked an arm around him carefully, trying not to distract him. It didn't work. He glanced down at her and smiled, putting his arm around her too before returning to concentrating on the meeting. Hermione snuggled her head into his chest a little, though keeping her eyes on Harry and Luna so it at least _looked_ like she was listening. After a while her eyes began to wonder around the compartment. She knew most of the people and they didn't look much different except older, slightly more relaxed and happier. As she surveyed them her eyes fell onto the back of Draco's head. His hair was a little messier than previous years, as if he hadn't taken as long in front of the mirror. His arm was stretched across the back of the sofa while Pansy Parkinson was sat close to him, though not close enough to be quite touching. Hermione couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't thrown an insult at her like she'd expected and like he would have in years before. The war must have had a bigger effect than people first thought. It was true Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban, so perhaps that was also having a profound effect on his son's behaviour. Hermione furrowed her brow, he had also discovered manners by the sounds of things and it intrigued her for some reason. Before she could go on to procrastinate about it further Harry began to talk about prefect rounds and patrolling, this changed every year so she had to pay attention. Asking Ron what was said would be devastating, he'd never let her live it down.

"Right, we're mixing up the patrolling rounds a bit this year. We want to promote house unity so we're partnering you up with another house prefect." There were a few groans, including one in Hermione's ear from Ron.

"Oh, shh!" She nudged him playfully in the shoulder.

"What? Can't blame me for looking forward to spending time with you in dark corridors." The red headed man winked before nuzzling his face in her neck. She gasped at his outrageously inappropriate comment, concealing the giggle that tried to escape her lips.

"So the pairs are quite simple. Weasley and Parkinson," Harry called out, a piece of parchment now in his hand. Ron backed off Hermione and looked towards Harry in shock, this shock soon turning to annoyance. Ron glared, mentally promising to get his best friend back later. Pansy sat up in her seat looking utterly appalled.

"You're joking, right?" When Harry shook his head she turned to Draco for help. He simply shrugged, running a hand through her hair briefly to try and calm her down. It seemed to work as she slumped back into the sofa defeated.

"Malfoy and Granger," Luna had leant across Harry to see the list and spoke before he had a chance. It felt weird addressing Hermione by surname. Draco didn't respond, silently accepting his fate, while Pansy turned to stare at him again. She gave him a questioning frown but gave up when he didn't acknowledge her. Hermione had to admit she'd expected it, who else could Harry really pair Draco with? Ron? Everyone knew that wouldn't end well. Ron was watching her closely, he'd put his arm back around her and pulled her close, as if protecting her from something. Someone.

Harry and Luna read out the rest of the pairs and finally dismissed them. Hermione parted from Ron with a kiss, he attempted a little more than what she'd intended so informed him it was neither the time nor the place before hurrying to find Draco standing by the door. Pansy kissed his cheek before disappearing with Ron, both of whom were looking thoroughly unentertained. Draco watched them go, a smirk tugging at his features, _that_ was going to make for an interesting year.

"I give them an hour." He muttered in her direction as they joined the queue to exit the compartment. Hermione glanced up at him disapprovingly, until the thought of a flustered and angry Ron crossed her mind. He was funny when he got worked up.

"Half an hour, at the most," A smile progressed onto her face at the thought and Draco chuckled. The sound was so foreign it took her by surprise. He had laughed with her and not _at_ her like it used to be. They had shared a joke this time, something she never thought they would do. They fell silent before finally exiting the door and starting their rounds. They had been given the last two carriages of the train with the youngest years in, which would make it easier for them. Hermione didn't know why it mattered though, she had _Draco_ _Malfoy_ as her partner, everyone knew who he was. He terrified most of the kids. It was for this very reason that they didn't find much trouble on their patrol, whenever the children saw him coming they darted into the nearest compartment. Hermione found it strange because it almost felt like they feared her too, just for being in his company. They didn't speak often unless to discuss something suspicious amongst the students. Hermione wanted to ask what it was like, to have them all run scared from him.

"I know what you're thinking, Granger." Hermione had been watching over her shoulder as kids peaked out of compartments to check he was gone. She snapped her attention back to him when he spoke, his back still to her.

"How could you possibly know that?" She realized once she'd said it that her tone had been quite rude. Draco glanced over his shoulder for a second before returning to stare ahead.

"You haven't stopped gawping, for a start." His infamous smirk sat in its rightful place on his pale face. The Gryffindor was never good at hiding things.

"I do not gawp, thank you very much." Hermione frowned in annoyance. Maybe he hadn't changed that much after all.

"Whatever, but you better get used to it. It'll be like this for the rest of the year." A hand ran through his hair as he walked. Sometimes it was tiresome, having so many people afraid of him. It meant he could never really meet new people because they already had a set perception of him. Except her, she wasn't afraid of him.

"Why?" A cold breeze ran through the train and she crossed her arms to shield herself.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, that's why. Get over it." He snapped back at her, anger building as he continued to walk. This hadn't been part of the plan, he wasn't meant to get angry. This only infuriated him more, why couldn't he control himself.

"There was no need to get angry." Hermione glared at the back of his head. There was still that horrible boy inside him and right now it was coming out to play. This was going to be a long year.

The two stayed quiet after this small interaction. Draco still walked with fists clenched, though the tension in his shoulders had dissipated. Hermione tucked her hair behind her ear, every minute brought about a new urge to say something. After what seemed like at least half an hour Hermione was about to go against her better judgement and say something, when they were plunged into darkness. Screams erupted throughout the carriage and Hermione dashed forward to try and find her fellow prefect. She came in contact with his arm and grabbed it. The first thought that came to her mind was that Voldemort was back and death eaters had attacked the train. This was disproved when Draco cursed quietly.

"Weasley…" He growled. Hermione furrowed her brow for a second, until realisation hit. The twins' _shop_, well George's now. They sold Instant Darkness Powder, or whatever it was called. Slowly the darkness lifted and the carriage came back into full view. Draco looked down at his arm where Hermione was clutching it, she followed his gaze.

"Oh!" She quickly let go, jumping away from him. What in hell had driven her to do that? She guessed it was because she'd been so scared it _was_ deatheaters and Draco was familiar to her. They _had_ known each other for several years now.

"Right!" Her thoughts were interrupted when he yelled and she jumped in surprise. "Who is the culprit?" Draco's voice was loud as he projected his voice to reach all corners of their current carriage. There was silence when no one came forward. The Slytherin prefect sighed, rubbing his forehead. "If I don't have the culprit in front of me in one minute, you all get detention. Every single person in this carriage! You hear?" Draco was firm in the way he told them off, but he no longer looked down his nose at them or anyone else for that matter. She couldn't remember him ever doing so since she'd first bumped into him. It was strange. After half of the minute two boys came out of a compartment and stood in front of Draco, their heads bowed. He didn't like how they stood, it reminded him too much of how they'd all stood in the Dark Lord's presence.

"Look at me." His voice was quieter as he only spoke to the two boys. They looked up at him and Hermione noted that they wore Slytherin crests. This meant he would go easier on them, he wouldn't take house points and probably wouldn't give them detention either.

"This..." He pointed at each boys crest in turn, leaning down to be nearer their height. "…doesn't give you the right to be arses. Detention-Saturday. Got it?" The boys nodded quickly, though the fear in their eyes had faded slightly. "Good. Now, off you go. And _don't_ do it again." He took their shoulders and turned them round before pushing them lightly back towards the compartment they'd come from. Every single person in the carriage, including Hermione, was staring at him astonished. Some students had even leant out of compartments to get a look. Draco surveyed the watching eyes. "What?" He demanded forcefully, the frosty exterior back all too quickly. Everyone jumped back into their activities, trying to pretend nothing had happened. Hermione glanced at the floor when he turned towards her. She was still trying to get to grips with what she had just witnessed. Draco Malfoy had been relatively nice to misbehaved students, he hadn't done anything to scare them really. She'd found it oddly sweet. Sweet? Her head shook as an attempt to get rid of such thoughts. That was ridiculous. Draco eyed her closely before beginning to walk again, and he heard her follow once more.

The rest of the journey was uneventful; they didn't come across anymore pesky children. Nor did they exchange another word between them. Hermione concluded that Draco had simply gained a soft spot, another thing to thank the war for. A small soft spot that would rarely be shown, or at least she hoped it was that. Surely the Slytherin would go back to his old ways once united with his fellow, arrogant pigs of house mates. They would soon pummel what seemed to be the start of moral values in his mind. None of them could have their leader showing weakness such as kindness. She could picture them all looking horrified if they'd seen his actions earlier, and it made her feel kind of smug. As if it was her doing, she'd been the one to influence him in such a positive way. Hermione nearly scoffed out loud at this thought, catching herself just in time.

Their round finished as the train began to slow and they made their way back to the head compartment. They'd turned back on themselves so now Hermione was in front, she decided very quickly she didn't like it. Having her fellow prefect behind her made it all the more important to concentrate on her walking. Did she have a stupid walk? Was she swaying too much? Did her hair look okay from the back? After a few minutes she mentally screamed at herself to stop being an idiot. For a start, she didn't need to care what she looked like to him. She knew. A mudblood was what he saw her as, that would never change. A filthy excuse for a witch with dirty blood. Worthless. Sometimes she agreed with him. In years past when she'd been under his hateful gaze, she couldn't help but think he was right. But now was different, he no longer looked at her in that way. That was what scared her the most.

"Are we going in then? Or would you rather we stood out here in everyone's way?" Draco's voice snapped her back to reality and she nodded quickly before entering the compartment. Before either could exchange a goodbye, Ron had hurried over and whisked her off to where Harry and Luna were standing. Draco stood and watched after her, knowing the goodbyes would only have been awkward. Hermione would possibly put her foot in it again and irritate him like earlier. He could tell she had been more than confused by his actions, causing a smirk to lighten his features. Pansy arrived at his side and took his hand, he lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. She grinned happily. It was the only time he really saw her happy, when she was with him and he was showing some sign of affection. Having Pansy happy was always a good thing, he knew she was far more into their relationship than he was, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. Truth was, he was lonely without her. He'd known Pansy for a long time and before the war they'd fooled around, resulting in him caring for her. Yes, her heart was in it far more than his, but that kind of made it easier. To be honest, Draco's heart was never in anything. It hadn't been for a long time and sometimes he wondered whether he had a heart at all. It was Pansy who reassured him he did. Their relationship was normal, it was expected of them. Draco always did what was expected of him, well, almost always.

"Shall we go find Blaise and Theo?" The dark haired girl tugged on his arm slightly, the way she did when she wanted to leave. He nodded an answer and they swiftly left the compartment.

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Luna stood far from the door in discussion about Ron's patrolling with Pansy. They were now the only people left in the compartment.

"It was quiet. I expected her to be mouthy, like she is, but nothing. Expect for when some kids tried to trip her up. Then she got pissed." Ron was explaining to an amused looking Harry, who was evidently doing his hardest to hide that fact.

"How was Malfoy?" They turned to Hermione next and she looked up at them.

"Fine, fine." She waved their worries off with a hand, not really wanting to go into detail.

"Fine?" Harry and Ron chorused, brows furrowed.

"Slightly strange, but fine. Other than the darkness powder I reported." Her three friends stood silent, staring at her in surprise and confusion.

"Strange?" Ron put an arm around her, looking for a better answer.

"He just didn't talk much, that's all. We should be going, the train's stopped." Hermione stepped out of Ron's clutches and made her way to the compartment door. "Coming?" She painted a grin on her face. The others nodded, speechless for a second before quickly joining her and exiting the door. They had a feeling Ron was right, this year wasn't going to be anymore normal than the last.

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I hope you liked it please let me know what you think! This is going to be my first multiple chapter fic on here, so advice is welcome as well as critique not sure how you guys think I got the characters? I really don't want to get them wrong :/ Thank you for reading! Xx (I just proof read this chapter, and I don't like it very much lol I apologise if it's poorly written, the chapters get better i promise)


	2. Chapter 2: I Wish I'd Never

Chapter 2: I Wish I'd Never

Draco was woken the first morning of term by a loud bang, causing him to sit bolt up right in bed. Goyle was doubled over his trunk, hissing in pain, rubbing his shin roughly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Draco brushed the sweat off his brow, rolling his eyes.

"Tripped over, sorry." The man straightened up, speaking quietly. His eyes met Draco's for a second, allowing the blonde to notice how empty they were. Goyle was more of an empty shell now, ever since Crabbe's death he hadn't been the same. He'd even lost a substantial amount of weight. What did Draco expect? The death had come as a huge shock to him too- a reality check. It marked the moment Draco realised just what the war meant and how much there was at stake. Although, Crabbe had been closer to Goyle so Draco couldn't possibly imagine what it felt like.

"It's fine." Draco slipped out of bed. "Are you alright, Goyle?" The question took Goyle by surprise and he stared for a second at the man he thought he knew. The man who hadn't asked about his welfare in the last six years they'd spent at Hogwarts together. Perhaps he was just tired, that must have been it. So Goyle nodded a reply, grunting slightly. Draco eyed him warily, unconvinced. "Okay..." With that he made his way to the bathroom and got ready for the day. His morning routine had been the same ever since he started school; body, hair, teeth, clothes etc. When he entered the dorm fully primed and robed, Goyle was gone. Draco grabbed his bag and flung it over his shoulder before making his way down to the common room. Many students were up now, scattered round the large room, slowly disappearing to breakfast. Draco spotted Pansy, Blaise and Theodore on a sofa and strode over, sitting between them and flinging his arms back to stretch behind them.

"Morning." Pansy chimed, kissing his cheek. Draco looked down with a small smile, studying her for a second. In most peoples eyes, she was his girlfriend, but that was something he'd just never been able to call her.

"How'd you sleep?" Blaise leant forwards slightly, not caring that he may have interrupted a moment between the couple.

"You know I don't sleep well." Draco glanced at him testily, noticing Theodore staring at him too.

"Still getting the nightmar-"

"Yes, we're all aware of that. Thank you, Blaise." Draco cut him off, not wanting to talk about it. He found it pointless and unhelpful. Nightmares had nearly always plagued his sleeping hours, ever since he was a young boy. They went back as far as he could remember, all similar but changing slightly with whatever situation he was currently in. When he'd first entered this relationship with Pansy, she'd been in all of them for several weeks.

"Right, sorry." Blaise straightened his back before standing up, knowing full well he probably shouldn't have brought that up. Draco rarely confided in any of them so Blaise didn't want to make such occurrences even less likely. The blonde needed them, even if he wouldn't admit it.

Theodore followed suit, running a hand through his hair. "Shall we go to breakfast?" He offered his hand and Draco took it, allowing his friend to yank him to his feet. Pansy then took hold of Draco's robes to pull herself to her feet.

The quartet made their way down to the great hall, Pansy had quickly tucked her arm into Draco's comfortably. Blaise and Theodore began to talk about Quidditch, a usual topic of theirs. Draco informed him them he wasn't going to try out for the team this year, being a prefect would limit the amount of time he could use to practice. Blaise groaned and moaned, complaining because that meant they wouldn't get to have as much quality guy time. Theodore rolled his eyes at Blaise and told him to shut up. Draco had just snorted at this, the term 'guy time' sounding ridiculous. They arrived at the great hall, walking over to their house table with heads held high. Slytherin pride radiating off them, even if it was a lot less pronounced than pervious years.

Hermione watched the Slytherins enter the great hall through her hair, making it less obvious. Ron was sat beside her, stuffing his face with sausage and bacon. It was usually during breakfast that she kept her distance from him, he was the least attractive while gorging himself. Kissing him in that state was not at all appetizing.

"Here comes McGonagall." Harry, who was sitting opposite them, pointed towards the end of the table. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was progressing in their direction, handing out lesson timetables. The witch was getting older now, the war had evidently taken its toll and Harry was sure she'd be retiring soon. It took her a while to get to them, but once she arrived Harry went to stand. "Shall I help, professor?" He asked, going to take some of the timetables.

"No, no, Mr Potter. I'm more than capable. Here is yours," She handed Harry his parchment and he sat back down warily. "Miss Granger, Mr Weasley." McGonagall handed them their tables and they thanked her in turn before she continued along to the next group of people.

"What've you got then?" Ron leant across Hermione to look at her timetable, dripping food from his mouth all over the table and her robes.

"Ron, would you at least swallow first, please?" She pushed him away irritably, rolling her eyes. Harry glanced up from his parchment, stifling a laugh. Ron straightened up and swallowed his food down hastily.

"Sorry." The red head muttered, handing her his own timetable, knowing she'd make more sense of it than he would. Hermione's eyes darted from one parchment to the other until she looked satisfied and flung Ron's back at him.

"We have Care of Magical Creatures first." She stated in her matter-of-fact tone. Harry lowered his timetable and smiled at them.

"Me too, Hagrid will be surprised we've taken it up again." He glanced at the staff table with a grin.

"Remind me, why _did_ we take it up again?" Ron groaned before gulping down a swig of pumpkin juice.

"Because we didn't give it much of a chance last time. Hagrid deserves more than that." Hermione answered sternly, getting a quill from her bag and circling a few things on her parchment.

"What are you doing?" Ron leant towards her again, though the bits of food and spit flying everywhere was absent this time.

"Circling studies I have with you." She forced a smile in his direction and he returned it.

"How many do we have?" Ron snaked an arm around her waist, pressing his lips to her shoulder briefly.

"Two a week." Her shoulders tensed at his touch, though it was a good tense, almost ticklish.

"What? Is that it?" The happy expression on his face had gone, to be replaced with disappointment. Hermione didn't know what to say so simply shrugged. "Well, as long as I get you all to myself after classes as well." He kissed her shoulder again before snuggling into her neck playfully. Hermione burst into laughter when he hit a sensitive spot, trying to push him off teasingly.

"Oi! Best friend here! Don't need to see that." Harry chucked a role of bread at Ron, keeping his eyes averted from the couple opposite him. Hermione leant away from Ron, a hand covering her mouth half in shock and half to stop her laughter.

"Sorry." She bit her lip, cheeks turning pink.

"You're dating my sister." Ron glared at Harry for a second, who raised his arms in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Point taken." The three of them stared at each other for a second, before erupting with laughter. Hermione giggled hysterically, leaning her forehead on Ron's shoulder. This was what she wanted their year to be like. Fun. Happy. Everything their past years had not, well not much of anyway.

"We better get going." Hermione finally spoke when the laughter subsided, noticing students filtering out of the hall. The trio stood and picked up their bags, following the crowd. When they were reunited with Harry at the oak doors he shook his head at Ron.

"Will you ever let that go?" He was referring to the comment about dating Ginny, it hadn't been the first comment Ron had made.

"No." Ron scoffed, shaking his head. Hermione grinned, taking Ron's hand at the exact time he went to take hers. The two of them were perfect like that, their bodies and senses just seemed to understand each other, even if their brains didn't. As they walked down to Hagrid's hut their legs moved in faultless time with one another. Ron had taken her bag at some point during the walk, flinging it over his shoulder along with his own bag. Hermione hadn't known him to be so charming before they got together.

They were the last three to arrive at Hagrid's, or so they thought. The half giant's eyes were wide with surprise for a second before a grin emerged through his beard.

"All 'ere?" He called out and everyone nodded. "Righ', better get goin'." The professor went to turn when something behind the class stopped him in his tracks. Harry was the first to turn, closely followed by the rest of the class. Hermione felt Ron's arm jerk sideways and followed his gaze. Malfoy was making his way towards the group, hands in his pockets and eyes cast to the grass ahead. "Malfoy." Hagrid nodded acknowledgement in the blonde's direction. The Slytherin looked up at the sound of his name, soon realizing everyone was staring at him. He was beginning to regret taking this class already. Finally, everyone started on their way to wherever Hagrid was taking them. The only reason he had taken this class was to make things up to the half giant. That sounded absurd when he thought about it, but Hagrid hadn't deserved all the trouble Draco had caused him in third year. He hoped this gesture would somehow show that he regretted it and he was…sorry. Yes, he supposed he was sorry. Though, this was a very rare occurrence for Draco. He was _never_ sorry.

So he trailed along at the back of the class as they made their way towards the forbidden forest. Why didn't that surprise him? The forest seemed to be the giant's favourite place to take students. Draco could remember in first year when Potter and himself spent detention within the trees. That hadn't ended well. It had resulted in him screaming like a girl and running away if he recalled correctly. The dog by his side, Fang was it? Draco smiled to himself at the memories, only to have his thoughts interrupted by the professor.

"Nearly there now." The booming voice echoed in Ron's ears and he held Hermione's hand tighter as they entered through more trees.

"This can't be good." He muttered, leaning towards Harry.

"I'm sure it'll be fine Ron" Hermione gave him a reassuring smile. She noticed a piece of his hair sticking up and attempted to flatten it gently.

"As long as it's not another giant spider, eh?" Harry cocked an eyebrow in amusement, openly sniggering at his best friend's expense.

"Very-fucking-funny, Harry." Ron scowled at him. Shuddering at the thought of the now deceased spider they'd met in their second year. Good riddance in his opinion.

"Language, Ron!" Hermione hit him and the glare fell. She didn't like it when he swore, it felt unnecessary and a little rude. Such language only left her mouth on rare occasions when there was really nothing else she could think of to say or any other way of expressing how she felt.

"He's being a dick." Ron tried to defend himself but only made things worse.

"Ron!"

"Well, he is." The red head shrugged, shooting Harry another dirty look of disproval. They fell into silence as the group approached a small clearing. There were what looked like large insects flying around it.

"What is that?" Hermione narrowed her eyes in concentration, trying to see what they were. Hagrid stopped short of the clearing and turned back to them all.

"T'days lesson is on fairies." The professor announced merrily. Hermione gasped in surprise, though tried to hide it by covering her mouth with the back of her hand. The rest of the class behind Hermione, Ron and Harry broke into muttering. Draco made his way forward slightly, also in front of the rest of the class now, a few feet to Hermione's left. An acceptable distance away for Draco, he didn't want to get any closer to any of them.

"Fairies?" Hermione looked from Hagrid to Ron to Harry. Harry looked as dumbstruck as she did, which she was grateful for.

"Yeah?" Ron looked completely unbothered by the scene, not knowing what was so shocking.

"They're real?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms over her chest, brows furrowed. She supposed she _had_ neglected some books on magical creatures.

"Yes? They always have been. Ginny had one when she was little." Ron nodded, a smile on his lips. They'd found something Hermione obviously didn't know. "Until laws were put in place to stop their captivity. Damn right too, the thing was miserable." This last comment made Hermione grin with pride and kiss him on the cheek. She'd taught him well.

"This particula' bunch are Water Fairies. Keep the tree's growin' and the grass fresh." Hagrid continued to explain to the class. "You'll hav' t' get into pairs." People looked around at each other, quickly picking partners. Ron pulled Hermione closer to him possessively. Hagrid saw Draco standing alone at the side of the group. "Ah, Mr Malfoy, ya'll need a partner," Hermione watched as no one said anything. It made her feel bad, so she stepped forward, letting go of Ron.

"I'll be his partner. Ron go with Harry." She smiled pleasantly at Hagrid who grinned back proudly, he knew he'd be able to count on one member of his favourite trio.

"But-" Ron began.

"I'll be fine, go on." Hermione nodded at her boyfriend reassuringly before stepping beside Draco. He stared at her in confusion, until he realised he was staring and quickly turned to look at the fairies again.

"Thank ya', Miss Granger. Righ', you'll enter the clearing a pair a time. The fairies hav' to pick ya' so jus' wait for one. They c'n be sneaky bugga's when they wan' so be careful. Boot an' Corner, you c'n go first." The students all turned to see Terry Boot and Michael Corner sheepishly make their way to Hagrid. "Jus' step in slow." Terry and Michael paused at the edge of the clearing, then nodded at each other and proceeded to step into the cleared. Everyone held their breath, but nothing happened. The fairies continued to fly above the boys' heads, everyone sighing in relief. "Malfoy, Granger, you next. They pinch people for untidines and bad tempers, so watch out f' that." Hagrid gestured with a large hand for them to step forward. Hermione glanced at Malfoy who shrugged his shoulders slightly and nodded his head towards the clearing. She walked forward, her heart beat steadily increasing with fear. A bad temper could be seen as something she had, though Malfoy probably had a worse one of those. They reached the very edge of the clearing and Draco stepped in first, Hermione watching him as nothing happened.

"Come on, Granger. There's nothing to worry about." Draco swung his arms around in the empty air around him, the fairies still above them. Somehow, his words calmed her and she stepped inside. Terry and Michael were stood at the opposite side of the clearing, a fairy circling their heads. It must have picked them. How long did it take for fairies to chose, Hermione wondered.

"What now?" She looked to Draco for an answer but he evidently didn't have one. He found a large rock and sat on it, leaning forward on his thighs. Other pairs were beginning to filter into the clearing so Hermione moved to sit on the floor by Draco, giving the new people more room. She gazed up at the fairies, still bewildered by their actual existence. That's what she got for not reading _all_ the books. As her eyes surveyed the flying creatures something caught her eye near the Slytherin. A fairy was fluttering by his head.

"Malfoy," She nodded towards it and he turned to see it. "Looks like you've been picked." Hermione smiled, not at Draco but the fairy. Yes, the fairy. The Slytherin glared at the thing distastefully. When the fairy realized Hermione was with him it flew to her instead, landing on her knee. "Hello." She spoke to it as if it was a child and she felt her cheeks go red. Was that how they were meant to speak to these creatures? The fairy responded in a positive way, leaving her knee and landing on her shoulder. Draco watched the scene unfold, intrigued. The fairy seemed to be watching him with the same intrigue and Hermione followed its gaze. "He seems scary, but he's not really," Hermione looked at Draco as she spoke, eyes locked onto his. "Go on, go say hi." The fairy was apprehensive as it hovered towards him, soon reaching his shoulder and landing gracefully. Draco drew his eyes from Hermione's and watched it suspiciously. Without warning it pulled his hair and he growled in pain, causing the fairy to fly hastily back to Hermione.

"It did that on purpose." He muttered angrily, rubbing his head.

"No, try again," She scolded the miniature creature as it landed in her hand, ignoring the blonde. "Don't hurt him this time." Draco glared from Hermione to the pest as it landed on his knee this time. After deciding he was acceptable enough the fairy stretched across his knee, laying on its back. Hermione shuffled forward on the dusty floor to get a better look at the creature. Now it had stopped moving she could see Hagrid was right, they were beautiful little things and this one was a girl, if its dress was anything to go by.

"It better not go to sleep." Draco mumbled grumpily. Although the thought of this small creature accepting him enough to slumber on him, gave the blonde a strange sense of accomplishment.

"At least she can't pull your hair if she's sleeping." Hermione gave him a smirk that could challenge his own and he stared at her. Draco had never seen _his_ smirk on _her_ face before. It was bizarre. A witty reply had come to mind and he was about to answer back when Hagrid spoke.

"Tha's it for t'day. You jus' needed to ge' acquainted this lesson. Dismissed." The professor began to push students lightly out of the clearing. Draco's eyes widened as the fairy still lay on his knee.

"What am I supposed to do?" He looked to Hermione for help and she stood up, before scooping the fairy up in her hands.

"Move. We'll put her on the rock." Draco got to his feet quickly and Hermione laid the winged creature on the rock. Where he'd been sat was still warm, something Hermione thought the fairy would like. She turned back to Draco, who had placed his hands in his pockets. A cloud of awkwardness slowly falling around them.

"Come on, Hermione." Ron grabbed her hand as he and Harry passed, pulling her back towards the castle, evidently desperate to get out of the forest. Meaning there hadn't been much time to dwell on the new uneasiness. Draco watched after them, a feeling of disappointment swelling in his stomach. He quickly pushed it aside before making his way out of the trees, frustration washing over him.

The rest of the day went quicker than expected, lessons being quite uneventful other than Seamus blowing up yet another cauldron in Potions. Hermione and Ron were cuddled on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, he had his back against one of the sofa arms and she sat between his legs with parchment and quill in hand, already half way through homework for Transfiguration.

"So, where's Harry again?" Ron asked, watching his hands as they fiddled with strands of her hair. Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes.

"He's with Luna, head duties I imagine. Speaking of duties, we better get going. Harry and Luna will be down in the entrance hall by now." She stood and shoved the homework in her bag. "We'll start on yours later." She nodded towards the homework and he groaned, reluctantly getting up from his comfortable spot. He would have protested but knew it was useless; Hermione was set in her ways when it came to homework. So the two of them made their way out of the portrait hole and down to the entrance hall, hand in hand. Nearly everyone was there when they joined the group, waiting for orders. Harry gave each pair a different floor to patrol, Hermione and Draco being given the seventh floor. The two of them subconsciously stood side by side when Harry addressed them, Hermione concentrating on getting every detail in case there was something new. There wasn't. Luna sent them all on their way, adding that she and Harry would be on the second floor if anybody needed them.

Hermione led the way to the seventh floor, why had Harry insisted on giving them such a high up floor. Ron and Pansy had got the third floor, which sounded a lot better to Hermione.

"Calm down, Granger. We're only climbing stairs, not running a marathon." Draco's voice crashed through the silence and into her ears. Had she been complaining about that out loud? _Crap_.

"Well-I-erm, I just thought it might be easier for you if we were lower down. Your common room _is_ in the dungeons." Hermione felt quite impressed with this excuse. Thinking off the top of her head hadn't always been a very good skill of hers. Draco raised an eyebrow as he contemplated this, she was actually right, it did make more sense. The seventh floor was quiet and motionless when they arrived, to their delight. That meant they wouldn't have to be there long. Patrolling proved to be as boring as it had been before and Hermione had lost count of how many times she'd yawned. The silence was peaceful but there were so many things eating away at her, she just had to say something.

"What's wrong with you, Malfoy?" She tried to sound nonchalant but doubted she was very good at it.

"What?" Draco asked, removing his hands from his pockets before putting them straight back.

"You haven't called me a mudblood since we got back to Hogwarts." Had he _cringed_ then? Did she actually see the man _cringe_ when she said the work mudblood? Much like she had the first few times all those years ago. Draco didn't answer, instead he just kept walking, increasing his speed slightly. Hermione wanted to press the subject but knew not to, not now anyway.

"The floor is clear. You can go to bed if you want." He stared ahead, the portrait for the Gryffindor common room could be seen at the end of the corridor. Hermione had completely forgotten the common room was on this floor.

"That doesn't seem fair on you." She shook her head.

"I don't care, it's pointless for you to leave this floor now." Draco stopped a few feet from the portrait; all prefects knew where other common rooms were. Standard safety precautions, that kind of thing.

"Ok, fine." She reluctantly over took him, making her way to the portrait. She was about to say the password when Draco spoke again.

"I wish I'd never called you that, you know." The blonde man glanced out the nearby windows lining the wall, refusing to meet her gaze. Hermione stared at him in amazement, was he serious? Did he mean it? _Surely not_.

"But you still did." He turned to look at her then, it was the most expected answer but he was still surprised she'd said it. The Gryffindor finally gave in and looked back at him, their eyes colliding for what couldn't have been longer than a second before they both looked away again. "Night." After the sorry excuse of a farewell she muttered the password and entered the common room. Draco stood transfixed until the portrait closed again, then he turned on his heel and made his way out of the infernal corridor. What had he gone and said that for? Hermione Granger was the last thing he needed on his mind, annoying bookworm.

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Hiii! Firstly, I apologise for my awful Hagrid speech! I really wanted to write in the way he speaks, but it didn't turn out great. Please let me know what you think! am I still doing okay with the characters? I am desperate not to hurry things unnecessarily :/ reviews are more than welcome! Thank you for reading! xx


	3. Chapter 3: Convincing and Confusing

Chapter 3: Convincing and Confusing

The loud ring of Hermione's alarm clock chimed though the dormitory at exactly 7am, waking up all the girls except Hermione herself. She was already awake. Homework was spread across the bed in front of her as she stared at it absentmindedly. Sleep had not been kind to her, resulting in the spree of homework. However, after three feet of parchment she'd lost concentration on 'Different side effects of the Wit-Sharpening potion'. Instead taking a shower and getting dressed for class. Once she'd done that it was still only a few minutes to seven so she sat back on her bed, and that was when the alarm had gone off. Groaning came from the other beds as Lavender and Parvati sat up, rubbing their eyes and stretching their arms. When they saw Hermione sitting on her bed, eyes staring emotionless ahead of her, they glanced anxiously at each other.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Parvati spoke first, slowly rising from her bed. Lavender followed suit, moving around the end of her bed. Hermione looked up at them suddenly, her brows were furrowed but she was still smiling.

"I'm fine." Lavender crossed her arms at this, unconvinced. Parvati shrugged at her best friend before making the messy bed she'd just left.

"If you're sure."

"Yep, I'm going down to the common room now. See you at breakfast." Hermione clambered off her bed and gathered all the parchment, shoving it in her bag. The sun was beginning to peak through the curtains and she sent the girls another smile before striding past and descending the stairs.

When Hermione arrived in the common room she was surprised to see Ron and Harry were already up, sitting by the fire. Harry saw her first and nudged Ron, who turned to grin at her.

"Hermione!" The red head stood and rushed towards her, capturing her in his arms. He lifted his girlfriend off her feet, twirling her around. Hermione couldn't hold back laughter, wondering what in the world he was so happy about.

"What was that for?" The question finally managed to leave her lips when he put her down. Ron took her hand and pulled her over to Harry.

"Harry's made me Quidditch Captain!" He burst out, just as her bum landed on the comfy sofa. Hermione glanced at Harry looking slightly confused, but quickly returned her gaze to Ron with a grin.

"That's great!" To say she was surprised would have been an understatement. "But-why?" It wasn't a very positive comment, she knew that. Nevertheless, such a thing had to be asked, it was in her nature and they knew that.

"Too much on my plate as it is. Ron said he could handle it," Harry shrugged, feeling very pleased with himself. Making other people happy always made him feel good about himself, especially when that person was Ron.

"Are you sure?" Hermione couldn't help but sound concerned as she spoke. Ron wasn't a very organised person and she wasn't sure he actually would be able to handle it.

"Of course, I've already got the notice here." He pulled a piece of parchment from his bag. "I'll put it up now." The Gryffindor notice board was quite empty as they'd only been back a few days, so Ron had plenty of room to pick from. He grabbed a pin and stuck the parchment on the very middle of the board, standing back to admire his work. Hermione read the words aloud;

"Quidditch Try-outs Next Saturday." Just seeing the joy this gave Ron made her smile. Asking whether it was too soon in the year did cross her mind but she decided not to bother.

"Shall we go to breakfast then?" Ron helped Hermione to her feet as Harry stood too.

"Can't possibly miss the food can we?" Harry asked, feigning terror at the idea. Hermione laughed as Ron glared at the man beside him.

"Looks like you've already had some, getting a bit podgy aren't we?" Ron patted his best friend's stomach, faking concern. Harry's eyebrows raised in disbelief before he broke into laughter.

"Was that the best you could come up with?" The trio stepped through the portrait hole, Harry glancing back at Ron unimpressed.

"Says you! We all know I like my food." The two boys continued on with similar banter all the way down to the entrance hall. Hermione concluding that getting herself involved wouldn't have been a good idea so stayed quiet, surveying their surroundings instead. The castle was so beautiful it never ceased to fascinate her, even after all these years and all the times she'd already strolled through it. It was when they arrived at the entrance hall that her attention faulted and blonde hair came into focus.

Blaise Zabini was strutting towards the great hall, Draco and Pansy close behind with their hands clasped between them. Out of nowhere, a boy ran into Blaise, almost knocking him off his feet. Draco grabbed his arm quickly to make sure that didn't happen.

"Watch where you're going." Blaise snapped at the boy, who was obviously several years below him.

"Watch yourself." The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. Who did this Slytherin think he was?

"How dare you-" The boy and his friends began to laugh, stopping Blaise mid sentence. Never in his time at Hogwarts had any other student laughed at him, other than his friends of course. Draco put a hand on Blaise's shirt when he realized the man was going to go after the boy again.

"Blaise! We don't have that authority anymore, you know that." Draco hissed in his ear, not wanting any unnecessary attention. Luckily, what little crowd there was had already forgotten the incident and gone back to their own business. Pansy pushed the two boys anxiously into the great hall. All three Slytherins were unaware of the Gryffindors watching from the staircase.

Ron sniggered. "Serves him right."

"That boy was a second year at least. They usually run scared from that lot." Harry's eyebrows knotted together in confusion. Nothing like that had happened before. Although he had noticed Slytherin students being a lot quieter lately.

"Not anymore, people know what cowards they are now." Ron sneered, though more to himself than his friends. Hermione had to bite her lip to stop from snapping at him. They weren't all cowards.

"Come on." Harry started down the last steps and they followed close behind.

Luckily enough, the trio had a study first. The only study the three of them had together all week. Luckier still, Ginny also had a study. The four of them trudged down to the lake, barely visible under all the coats, hats and scarves. Hermione had made them all wrap up extra warm; she didn't want any of them getting hyperthermia.

"What the hell is hyperthermia?" Ron had asked. This resulted in a long winded explanation from Hermione, describing the muggle illness and its effects, which lasted the whole walk down to the lake.

"I wish I hadn't asked now." He rolled his eyes, sitting under a tree a few hundred feet from the waters edge.

"Hermione can't be walking around Hogwarts with a _stupid_ boyfriend, can she?" Ginny smirked, dragging Harry down to sit with her.

"Oops, too late." Harry exclaimed, leering with amusement. Ginny erupted into laughter, pushing her face into Harry's coat, muffling it. Ron scowled at them, attempting to see the funny side.

Hermione furrowed her brow in disapproval. "Ron isn't stupid." She sat beside him, resting an arm over his knees. "Not at all." Her eyes caught his, trying to express how much she meant the words. His hair was a little messy so she fiddled with it affectionately, their faces inches apart and their eyes never leaving the others. Ron's annoyance diminished as a smile crossed his lips.

"Thank you." He ran his hands along her sides, reaching her back and pulling her towards him. A shiver ran down her spine as he kissed her softly. When they broke apart again he grinned. "See." He shot the other two a hostile frown. They shrugged in surrender before Ginny shifted into Harry's lap, though he didn't look very comfortable.

"How is it with Parkinson then Ron?" Ginny asked, seemingly not done badgering her brother. Harry sniggered, seeing the look on Ron's face and hiding behind her.

"You better watch your back, Potter." Ron glared, but then grinned. Harry looked genuinely nervous.

"I'm sorry mate. You were genuinely the _only_ person I thought might be able to handle her." Harry offered his justification, desperately hoping it made sense.

Hermione watched Ron contemplate this. "He's right." She muttered, smiling a little. Ron glanced at her, a proud grin pasted on his face.

"Well, I suppose…I am pretty good at dealing with her. I haven't hexed her." All four of them chuckled at this. Ron had a very good point there. They fell into a comfortable silence as Ron rested his chin on Hermione's shoulder, planting kisses on her cheek every so often. She wrapped her arms around him tighter so they could share as much body heat as possible.

"Oh, Hermione! Could I run an idea past you?" Harry leaned away from Ginny as she went to kiss him, resulting in her lips colliding with his cheek instead. For a second the girl looked exasperated, before she gained composure again, pretending it didn't happen.

"Sure." Hermione nodded, rotating her body so she could see him better. Ron shifted his own body slightly to fit with her new position. His legs were bent, knees towards his chest as Hermione sat between them, her back against him.

"I was thinking house unity still isn't being promoted enough, so Luna suggested we plan a party for each year." Harry fidgeted under Ginny's weight, though she didn't seem to notice.

"How will it promote house unity?" Hermione asked, mulling over the idea carefully in her head.

"Well, we thought we'd take away houses completely. Tell everyone that houses don't exist, just for the duration of the party." Harry had obviously put some thought into this, but Hermione could already see several flaws.

"Harry," She began, a reluctant frown on her face. "That sounds like a great idea and everything, but it won't make a difference. No one's going to be able to just forget their house." She felt Ron nod his head in agreement against her shoulder.

Harry searched for a reply, he knew she'd say that. "I know, but we've got to give it a try." His eyes were pleading as she let out a sigh.

"Okay. What do you want me to do?" When he grinned Hermione couldn't help but smile, rolling her eyes at how easily he managed to make her agree to these things.

"Help Luna and I plan it? Speaking of which, I better go tell her." Harry carefully lifted Ginny off his legs.

"Hang on, you're going now?" Ginny protested, looking up at him in irritation.

"I've got to, head duty calls." He went to leave when she grabbed his wrist, using him to yank herself to her feet.

"Why didn't you ask me to help?" The red headed girl narrowed her eyes, hiding any hurt by covering it with anger.

"You're not a prefect Ginny." Harry knew he shouldn't have said it once it finished passing his lips. The enraged look on her face faulted for a minute, showing the full pain underneath. "I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't think you'd want to help." He quickly tried to fix his mistake.

"I don't even care about that anymore. Everything's about head duties! I never see you anymore." Ginny still sounded peeved, but not as much as before.

"I know and that's my fault. I'll make it up to you, I promise." The gap between them closed as Harry stepped towards her, engulfing his girlfriend in a hug. "I promise." Ginny snuggled into his chest, closing her eyes.

"Walk me to class?" She muttered into his coat. Harry nodded and the two of them set off back towards the castle.

Hermione stood up abruptly when she heard Ginny mention class. "We don't want to be late." She looked sternly down at Ron, who rolled his eyes before getting to his feet. He took her hand and they both walked back in the direction Harry and Ginny had disappeared.

Hermione walked into Ancient Runes, having just said bye to Ron in the hallway. She was the only one of them who had taken the lesson, leaving her on her own. Every seat, except one, was already taken. The last seat available was next to Malfoy, but having no other choice meant she had to sit there. He didn't even spare her a glance as she retrieved her belongings from her bag. Professor Babbling welcomed them all merrily before introducing the day's topic; a new set of runes to translate. Hermione hid her inner excitement at this, she loved translating new runes. The professor handed out parchment to each student.

"Working in pairs, you have the rest of the lesson." Professor Babbling then proceeded to sit at her desk and lean over a pile of parchment. Hermione pulled her copy of 'Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms' towards her and flipped it open.

She barely had time to open the book before Draco spoke. "I know this one." He pointed at one of the runes before turning the pages of his own book, finding it quickly and showing it to her

"How did you know that?" The Gryffindor looked at him in astonishment.

Draco shrugged. "You underestimate me, Granger." His voice dripped with arrogance.

"I've never underestimated you, Malfoy. I know perfectly well what you're capable of." Hermione glanced at him before returning her gaze to the runes in hand. She pondered over how much more intelligent he was than she had first thought. Throughout their years in Hogwarts he had only _just_ been behind her academically.

"Do you really?" His eyes shone with interest as he drew the question out on his tongue. Hermione rolled her eyes, leaving them to sit in silence. They continued to scribble down notes as the lesson progressed, Draco pointing out several more runes in quick succession. Hermione let out a sigh at some point and Draco turned to look at her, her hair wasn't as frizzy as he remembered it. There were a lot of things different about her now he studied her from a closer proximity, or perhaps they'd been there all along and he just hadn't noticed. Her eyes were a deep brown colour and he found them strangely alluring. She was biting her lip in concentration and he let his eyes linger there for a minute. His mind wandered to the night before, and how stupid he had been to say what he said. Should he talk to her about it? Everything had become so strange and confusing, it frustrated him.

"Malfoy, would you kindly stop staring at me?" Hermione had known he was watching her for a few minutes, only now had she managed to build up the courage to ask him not to. It puzzled her as to why.

"I wasn't." Draco snapped, quickly turning back to his parchment. The current thoughts in his head left instantly.

"You could have fooled me." She mumbled in amusement at his defensive and disconcerted tone.

"If you must know, there happens to be a very good looking girl sitting the other side of you." The blonde retorted, sending a glare in her direction. Hermione turned to see Tracey Davis sitting on the desk beside them. A pink tinge came to her cheeks and her shoulders dropped slightly. Why did she have to go and embarrass herself in front of Malfoy of all people? Davis was rather pretty, while Draco evidently thought Hermione was not. Disappointment clouded her eyes as she stared down at her book.

"Of course." She muttered to herself, turning a page meekly. Draco watched her out of the corner of his eye, she looked thwarted. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, though he didn't know why.

The rest of the lesson was quiet, Hermione avoiding any further contact with the man beside her. Whenever he pointed out a rune she ignored him, wanting to figure it out herself and not give him yet another reason to be big-headed. Draco knew full well she was ignoring him and being stubborn, but he continued to point out answers just to piss her off. It would have been immensely entertaining to see her sulk a few years ago, but now it was only slightly humorous. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what had changed. Other than the war of course, but that shouldn't have changed this, changed _them_. The war had simply set them free from a lot of trouble. Maybe he was just being naïve, something he would never admit out loud.

"Right class," Professor Babbling stood from her desk and everyone looked up from their desks. "That is enough for today, have them finished for homework." The students began to pack their things away. "Class dismissed." People rushed past Hermione and out of the classroom, a few knocking into her due to their haste. Was she really that invisible? It didn't take her long to pack her things away and quickly retreat out the door.

"Granger!" Hermione heard Draco calling after her but ignored him. Whatever he had to say couldn't have been important. "Granger, would you slow down?" He was persistent, she'd give him that. Draco was surprised her legs could carry her that fast, they weren't exactly long. Then again, she wasn't fat or anything, quite the opposite in fact.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" A sigh escaped her lips as she stopped in her tracks, eyes closing in frustration. There was silence. Hermione opened her eyes and turned to look at him expectantly, he was wasting her time.

"It's about-about last night," Draco wasn't sure what exactly it was he wanted to say. Hermione's eyes widened slightly, he wanted to talk about _that_?

"Just pretend it didn't happen." This was the first thing that came to her mind, plus he probably hadn't meant it, so what better way to proceed. It would put pay to a lot of unwanted stress.

"What?" The Slytherin stared at her in disbelief. It had taken him a long time to build up the nerve to even _think_ of saying that to her. Now she just wanted to throw it away, this was ridiculous.

"It didn't happen." With that she turned on her heal and walked away. Leaving Draco to stand alone, watching after her. She'd been doing that a lot lately; leaving him alone in places, with nothing but her back to stare at. Well, he'd had enough.

"No. Granger, come back here." The blonde man marched after her, ignoring students watching him. This wasn't happening her way, it was happening _his_ way. "I'm not ignoring this, Granger. You're doing that enough for the both of us." He caught up to her and grabber her arm.

She spun to stare angrily at him, yanking it from his grip. "Let go of me." Hermione didn't understand why he wasn't letting this drop. It didn't matter. People say things they don't mean all the time. "What exactly is there to talk about?" She crossed her arms in frustration.

"I meant what I said. I just want you to believe me." Draco ran a hand through his hair, finding it hard to believe he was saying any of this. Hermione paused for a moment, he looked deadly serious. She rolled her eyes and pulled him forcefully into the nearest empty class room.

"Why? Why do you want me to believe you?" Even as she said it, it sounded ludicrous. Draco Malfoy didn't care for anything or anyone but himself. There was silence when he didn't answer, sounds of students outside the door filling the empty room. As each new minute passed she contemplated leaving even more.

Draco sighed, running his hand through his hair yet again, pulling it slightly. "Because I feel guilty, okay? Happy now?" His voice sounded a lot more restless than he'd intended.

"Oh, I get it. So you just want me to make you feel better." Hermione couldn't believe she was hearing this. Actually, she could, this was Malfoy after all. Except the fact that he felt guilty; a Malfoy wasn't capable of guilt.

"No, that's not-urgh, you are impossible." Draco flung his arms in the air as he spoke, women were so damn difficult. Plus, why had he picked now to grow a conscience?

"I'm impossible? You're the one who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about." Hermione held back the smirk that came with seeing him jump at the swear word. He had probably never heard her swear before, not many people had. She tried not to most of the time.

"Fine. Just go then." Draco finally gave up, realising he'd gone about this in completely the wrong way. He didn't know if he could be bothered to try another way, she evidently didn't want to know.

"Fine." Hermione stomped to the door and wrenched it open. "Next time you have some mental crisis, don't bring me into it." She glared daggers at him, her voice slightly raised. The door slammed behind her and Draco growled in frustration, kicking a nearby chair. That had _not_ gone to plan and only succeeded in making them both angry.

* * *

><p>Hermione and Ron sat curled up on the sofa in the empty common room. Ron had managed to calm his girlfriend down after she'd arrived more than riled about something Malfoy had done. There was no use getting any sense out of her so he'd proceeded to sit her down and take her mind off it instead. Talking about homework was beginning to get boring though, so he kissed her shoulder. Hermione continued to talk, though moved her head slightly so he could reach better. After a while her talking stopped altogether as Ron trailed kisses down her neck, nipping at spots he knew were sensitive. A giggle escaped her lips, making him grin against her soft skin. One of his hands played with her hair as the other made its way up her thigh.<p>

It had barely passed her knee when Hermione leant away. "Ron," She pushed at his chest.

"What?" Concern was written all over his face as he looked down at her, his breathing slightly ragged.

"Don't." Hermione shook her head slightly, hoping he'd understand.

"Why not?" His eyebrows knitted with confusion, unaware of what he'd done wrong.

"Not here." Wind was beating at the windows while she spoke, the weather outside suddenly taking a turn for the worst.

"We'll go upstairs then." He sat up, about to stand.

"No, I-I'm just not in the mood." It felt awful to say, but she couldn't help it. Sometimes people were in the mood for stuff like that, and sometimes they weren't.

"Oh, ok." He looked disappointedly at the fire for a second before turning to smile at her. "That's fine, whatever you want." He kissed her cheek, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Sorry." Hermione muttered into his chest, sniffing.

"Don't be silly." Ron kissed his girlfriend's hair, determined not to let it ruin things. The girl in his arms made him happy, and hopefully he returned the favour. Hermione snuggled into his chest, relief washing over her. At least he'd understood her objection, even if she didn't.

"Thank you." As the two continued to share body heat in the cold common room, Hermione couldn't help but let her mind wonder to Malfoy again. His actions had been far from normal, his words even more so. It baffled her no end, why did he care whether she believed him or not? She didn't know the answer herself, it had happened so quickly and taken her by surprise. Ron and Harry would be even more surprised and probably pissed off, they wouldn't believe him for a second. Speaking of Harry. "Is Harry with Ginny?" She glanced up at Ron and he shook his head.

"Nope, Luna. Do they ever stop working?" The red head had a look of disgust on his face at the thought of work. It wasn't one of his favourite things to say the least.

"Apparently not…" Hermione shifted her weight slightly, not wanting to hurt him. It was all very well and good that Luna and Harry were heads, but this amount of workload was unusual even for them.

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><p>.<p>

so that was chapter 3. I hope you liked it. I'll admit, quite a bit of this chapter didn't go to plan. But I'm still pretty happy with it. I'll understand if Hermione and Draco are confusing you, they're confusing each other, and me (lol). Please let me know what you think! Reviews would be great thank you very much for reading! 3


	4. Chapter 4: Trouble Patrolling

Chapter 4: Trouble Patrolling

The sound of Pansy's steady breathing filled Draco's ears as her head rested in his lap. They occupied the sofa in the Slytherin common room, only a handful of other students sitting at the various tables around them. Draco was playing with a strand of her hair absent-mindedly, savouring the soft feel between his fingers. Until he glanced down at it and saw chocolate brown curls instead of her usual dark straight hair. His body flinched in surprise as he did a double take, hair falling from his grasp. Pansy's eyes shot open to look at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?" She sat up, soothing her hand along his cheek and down his neck.

"I shivered, that's all." A fake smile twisted his lips, as her own lips made an 'o' shape. Pansy lay back down, taking his hand into her own, caressing the back of it with her thumb. Draco stared down at her, her eyes closed again. What the hell had just happened? There was something wrong with him surely. He'd recognised the foreign hair, but pushed this thought away angrily.

"Boo!" Blaise appeared behind Draco, who wasn't surprised to see the man. Attempts at making Draco jump never worked, the blonde was always expectant and on high alert. Nothing could get past him.

"Pathetic." Draco mumbled. The farthest end of the sofa sunk down when Blaise sat and Pansy shifted her legs to give him space, whining as she did so.

"How's patrolling with Weasley then, Pansy?" Laughter escaped his lips, unable to hide his constant amusement. Potter had done well there.

"It's ok, I guess. Better than expected. We barely talk, so it's pretty boring." Pansy opened her eyes when she spoke, moving her head slightly so she could see him better.

"What about Granger?" Blaise turned to his best friend with interest. Another priceless gem from Potter, if he didn't know better he'd say the 'boy who lived' did it on purpose.

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "What about her? She's Granger, the know-it-all bookworm. That's not about to change." He hid all emotions from his voice or expression. What he said hadn't been a lie, it was still very true. He just planned to leave out any further detail of their encounters. Blaise nodded in agreement, understanding completely. His only query of this being that the bookworm was rather attractive, though he'd never admit it. Not unless there was something in it for him, or she suddenly decided to embrace it and work with it. That was very unlikely.

"You guys heard about the party being organised?" Thinking about the Gryffindor had reminded him of hearing the Weasel talking about some party.

"No, what party?" Pansy sat up quickly, twisting her body so she was sat normally on the sofa once more.

"Potter's planning a party for each year, to promote house unity or some bollocks." Blaise rolled his eyes at how excited Pansy already looked.

"Can we go, Draco? I love parties." She took hold of his sleeve hopefully. Draco contemplated it for a minute, concluding that it wouldn't do any harm. It might be good to get out of the stuffy common room for a change.

"Alright." He nodded slowly, Blaise sending him a disapproving glare. "Don't look at me like that. You know you want to go, plenty of drunken girls to prey on." Blaise's hard look softened and he sniggered.

"Touché, my man." Draco grinned when his friend spoke. "But don't say 'prey', makes me sound like some sort of pervert"

"Aren't you?" Pansy interjected, sticking her tongue out at him when he glared at her. Draco laughed.

"Hey!" Blaise grabbed a pillow and thumped her with it. Pansy screeched, giggling hysterically when he started tickling her. Draco sat back a bit, leaving them to it. They'd known each other longer than him and it was times like these he felt like the odd one out. He chuckled along with them though, so as not to arouse suspicion.

* * *

><p>Harry chucked a few pieces of parchment in front of Hermione and she began to read through them, tongue at the corner of her mouth in concentration. The two of them were sat with Ginny and Ron at a table in the library, the common room had been far too busy and Hermione had insisted they go to the library instead. These particular parchments had plans scribbled all over them, plans for the parties Harry and Luna were arranging.<p>

"What do you think?" Harry scrapped his chair across the floor to move closer. Ginny rolled her eyes and lifted her own chair to move closer too, her arm around his midriff throbbed painfully. That had been happening a lot recently, her muscles aching with sudden movement. She dismissed it as not getting enough sleep. Ron leant against the back of his chair lazily, a hand on Hermione's back, massaging gently. Every so often his hand would play with the ends of her hair, it was so silky he couldn't resist.

"Everything looks fine to me. Ron, you'll help me put up the decorations won't you?" She turned towards her other half with a smile, already knowing the answer. He nodded and she grinned, putting a hand on his knee and squeezing. "Thank you." Hermione leant towards him and kissed his lips lightly.

"What about invites?" Ginny asked, doing anything to distract from the couple kissing. Harry grabbed a piece of parchment; this one was covered in Luna's familiar handwriting, making him smile. Hermione moved hair from Ron's eyes when she pulled out of the kiss, grazing his forehead with her finger tips.

"Luna is making them herself." Harry answer proudly with a grin. Ron rolled his eyes as he moved his own chair closer to Hermione's. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder, a favourite position of his. Every so often he would nuzzle her neck, a giggle would issue from her lips before she pushed him away playfully.

"So when are these parties happening exactly?" Ron leant over his girlfriends shoulder in an attempt to see some of the parchment.

"Ours is two days before Christmas break. Other years will have theirs a few days before that." Hermione informed him, her breath prickling his cheek.

"But you guys can't supervise at those?" It was all far too confusing for him, he was thankful for having such a smart girlfriend.

"No. Harry will talk to the prefects of that year and they'll be supervising, taking it in turns so they can have a bit of fun too." Hermione ran a hand along his arm, letting the hairs tickle her palm as she watched him take the information in.

Ron gave a final look of realisation. "Right, I get it now." He nodded firmly, grateful that was out of the way and deciding not to ask anymore questions. They could get on with it themselves; he was only needed for his man power.

"I better get going." Harry untangled himself from Ginny and stood up.

"Where to?" Ginny asked, a hint of distress in her tone.

"I've got to run these by Luna." He collected up the parchments and thrust them in his bag. Ginny crossed her arms over her chest, huffing loudly.

"You're always working." She mumbled, standing up from her chair. It was always easy to get angry at him for this, but right now she didn't have the energy. All she wanted was her boyfriend back.

"I know. I'll be quick I promise, then I'm all yours for the rest of the day." Harry held her shoulders as he spoke before pulling the red head into a hug. Ginny felt oddly small in his arms, her skin abnormally cold against his own.

"Fine, go." She pulled away, resisting his gaze. "I'll see you later." It wasn't convincing, they could all tell she wasn't happy. Harry hesitated for a second before kissing her forehead and striding out the library.

* * *

><p>Draco and Pansy ran across the clock tower courtyard, rain pouring severely from the grey clouds over head. They finally reached the other side of the cobbled square, ducking for cover hastily. A few final students sprinted past, disappearing inside quickly. No one else was stupid enough to be out in this weather, but as for Pansy and Draco; they liked it. The warm water was refreshing and kept them on their toes. Both stood leaning against the stone wall, panting slightly. When Draco glanced at the woman beside him he noticed that her white blouse had gone see-through.<p>

"Here." He took off his jumper and pressed it into her hands. Pansy stared up at him, pushing it back to him with a thankful smile.

"It's fine. You've seen it before anyway." She glanced down at her chest, black bra very much visible under the white fabric. It didn't bother her that much and she could always cross her arms to block peoples view.

"I know _I_ have, but other people haven't." Draco persevered, putting the jumper around her shoulders and letting the sleeves block the view of her underwear.

"Is someone jealous?" Pansy teased, moving to stand in front of him. Draco rolled his eyes, the question didn't surprise him.

"No. I just thought you'd like to have some dignity." He bit out, annoyance written all over his face.

Pansy put her hands on his chest, not at all perturbed by his sudden outburst. "Thank you." She spoke quietly, grateful. Draco covered her hands with one of his own, unable to resist the smell of her perfume, which had began to waft up his nostrils. Her head was cocked to the side as she stared at him, he closed his eyes briefly, only to open them again and no longer be staring into Pansy's eyes. These were deep brown eyes, not Pansy's dark and devious ones. Draco jumped, looking back to see Pansy's eyes once more. _What the hell?_

"We better go to the feast." He edged past her, sticking a hand out to check if it was still raining. Pansy watched him, her brows furrowed. That was the second time he'd done that, jumped from her as if he'd seen a ghost. What was wrong with him, she wandered. The woman would have asked if he hadn't started towards the oak doors, so she rushed after him.

The entrance hall was occupied by more people than expected, a crowd had formed and Draco craned his neck to see who was in the middle of it. To his surprise, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood stood in the centre. Saying Longbottom was pissed would have been an understatement. Pansy found Tracey Davis in the crowd and asked what was going on, she informed them that Lovegood seemed to be breaking up with the Gryffindor hero. Draco rolled his eyes before pushing through the crowd and standing at the edge, watching carefully.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Neville's voice was raised to a volume Draco had never heard it before, it was surprising to see the man in such a state. Luna was muttering so only Neville could hear but whatever she was saying wasn't making much difference.

"Isn't anyone going to do anything about this?" Draco searched the crowd, namely for Hermione and Harry. When he couldn't see them and nobody offered to help, so he rolled his eyes with a loud sigh. "Urgh, I guess I'm doing it then. Longbottom, calm down." He stepped forward, his voice rising on the last three words.

"Who-?" Neville spun to see who was speaking. "Malfoy? You can't tell me what to do."

"I think you'll find I can," Draco pointed at his prefect badge, a smirk tackling its way onto his face. Though he fought against it, deciding this wasn't the most appropriate time. It would probably just piss the man off more.

"Neville, what's going on?" Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared at the bottom of the staircase, shocked to see Draco trying to help. Harry was watching Luna, a frown of guilt on his face.

"She's breaking up with me, and won't tell me why." Neville's voice cracked. There was silence as no one knew what to say, until Ron walked forward and threw his arm around Neville's shoulders.

"Come on, mate. Getting angry about it won't help. Let's get back to the common room." No one had seen Neville in such a state since the war, but Ron somehow understood how the man felt. So the two climbed the staircase, Hermione took Ron's hand briefly, silently thanking him. Harry rushed to Luna, comforting her best he could. Although Hermione could tell he was purposely not touching her, it was obvious he wanted to hug her but he didn't.

"I'll walk her to her common room." Harry looked at Hermione and she nodded. So they also disappeared up the staircase, Ron and Neville visible a few floors up by now. The crowd began to disperse as Hermione turned to Draco.

"Thank you, for that." Her voice sounded a lot more feeble than she'd anticipated, not having forgotten their quarrel the day before.

"I _am_ a prefect." He gestured towards his badge with a shrug and she smiled a little. The two of them stood silently, staring at each other for a second, the sounds of people around slowly fading. There was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on, and there was something about him that intrigued her mercilessly.

They were soon brought back to reality when Pansy's voice rang out. "Draco! That was so valiant of you." When she saw Hermione she nodded curtly. "Granger." They stood quiet for a minute. Hermione was more than aware of the jumper around Pansy's shoulders, it obviously wasn't her own.

"Parkinson." Hermione returned as politely as she could, quite sure that still didn't sound very polite.

"Come on, let's go." Pansy grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him away into the crowd. It must have been Hermione's turn to watch him leave, resulting in her standing alone. Hatred began to boil inside her.

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><p>Hermione stood in the exact same place she'd stood two hours before, waiting for Draco to show so they could begin patrolling. After speaking to Harry about it he'd let them exchange floors so they were nearer the dungeons. That meant if anything awkward or embarrassing happened again, they'd be able to get away quicker and avoid any more discomfort.<p>

"Ready, Granger?" Draco arrived at her side and she nodded. They made their way up to the second floor and when Hermione stopped Draco looked at her confused.

"Oh. We've swapped with Luna and Harry, so you're nearer the dungeons." She said in her matter-of-fact tone. The Slytherin nodded his understanding and they started patrolling. It was quiet at first, almost eerie, until Draco broke the silence against his better judgement.

"When you were negotiating with Potter, did you forget this is the floor Peeves enjoys terrorising?" He deduced that as long as he stayed away from the topic of their last quarrel everything would be fine.

Hermione contemplated this for a second, in all honesty she _had_ actually forgotten. "Erm-no. Peeves doesn't make much of a fuss at night." She hoped to merlin her words were true, or he at least believed them. His mouth opened to speak when there was a loud clang from somewhere at the end of the corridor, closely followed by a cackle. Draco grabbed his wand from his pocket, pointing it down the passage. Hermione did the same, though not as quickly.

"I beg to differ, Granger." Draco sent her a sideways glance before starting towards the noise. Hermione sighed inwardly, why didn't things ever go right for her? _Damn it_. She raised her wand, following closely beside him. If she remembered correctly, they were heading for the Muggle Studies classroom. As they drew closer the voice of Peeves became progressively louder. The door to the large classroom was slightly ajar and Draco nudged it opened with an outstretched hand. A toy train flew through the doorway and they ducked sharply, another cackle echoing through the air.

"Should we get help?" Hermione asked from her bowed position.

Draco shook his head wildly. "Don't be daft. We've fought in a war, Peeves will be a piece of cake." His voice was a whisper as he straightened up. All of a sudden a teddy bear came hurtling through the door and hit Draco square in the side of the head. Hermione covered her mouth to stop a gasp- then laugh- from escaping her mouth. Draco scowled at the door way. "Perhaps not quite a piece of cake." Hermione giggled as she watched him mull over different strategies in his head. The only thing they could do was go in and bargain with the poltergeist.

"Filch might turn up if we're lucky." It was possible, but the way things had been going for her today made her highly doubt it.

"Filch won't be any help. We'll have to go in and talk to the bugger, find out what he wants." Draco stepped over the threshold, wand held high. Another bear raced towards them and Draco swiftly cast a protective charm. "Peeves? Show yourself!" The Slytherin kept his protective charm up as they entered the room further. Hermione put her back to Draco's so they could cover the whole area. The room was large and circular; there were cabinets all around filled with muggle objects and a few more cabinets in the centre of the room. A large train set sat atop the cabinets, train long derailed. Model aeroplanes hung from the ceiling on wires, swaying in the draft. Draco looked in awe, not knowing what half the things were.

"Peeves!" Hermione called out, her anger building. Another chortle filled their ears, this one sounding a lot closer.

"Where the-?" Draco started, until they both looked up-and there was Peeves. The poltergeist was sat happily on one of the hanging aeroplanes, legs swinging.

"Look who it is. How is my little Drakey-poo?" Peeves had a high pitched voice dripping with amusement.

"Shut up! Stop pissing around and get out." Draco ordered with a growl. Peeves merely laughed again, beginning to rock excitedly on his aeroplane.

"Why should I, Drakey?" Hermione furrowed her brow at the poltergeist's nickname for him. Who had ever called him that; probably that bimbo he called his girlfriend.

"Peeves, would you just leave, please?" Perhaps manners would get the pest to leave, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Oh, who's this then? Got yourself a new girlfriend, Drakey?" Draco glared, his fists clenched and knuckles white. "Hang on, she can't be, isn't it Potty's little friend?" Peeves hung off the swinging plastic plane to get a better look at her.

"Peeves, I'm warning you." Draco hissed through gritted teeth. "Get out!" Peeves went silent for a minute, swinging more frantically.

"If you insist." There was a crumbling sound and Hermione looked up to see the wire disconnecting from the ceiling

"Move!" She screamed as the aeroplane came plummeting towards them. They jumped out of the way, tumbling to the ground with two thuds shortly followed by the loud crashing of the plane. Draco groaned, shooting spells at Peeves before the nuisance disappeared out the door.

"Are you alright, Granger?" He pushed himself up off the ground, which only now had they realised was covered in glass from broken cabinets. "Granger?" Hermione was laying stock still, eyes open. Her leg was caught under the planes wing and she couldn't muster the energy to speak yet. "Fucking hell." He clambered to her side, ignoring the glass cutting through his uniform and into his skin. The first thing he thought to do was move the plane, it was heavy enough to do damage but not so heavy that he couldn't move it. It dropped from his hands a foot away from Hermione's leg and she gasped in relief, pushing herself into a sitting position.

"Bloody poltergeist." Now didn't seem like the time to be joking around as Draco fussed over her leg, but she needed something to take her mind off the pain. Her tights were soaked in blood so Draco ripped them, this also gave him a better look at the cut. It ran from her ankle to her knee but didn't look too deep.

"Well I can't see the bone, which is a good sign. Can you move it?" Draco watched her as she tried, it could move a little but anymore than that and she whimpered in agony. "We better stem the blood flow." He searched frantically for something to use as a bandage, but there was nothing. Until his robes caught his eye. Without hesitation he ripped the material, Hermione let out a gasp as she watched him tie it around her leg hastily. "Okay. I've got to take you to the hospital wing." He went to pick her up, one arm under her legs and the other across her back.

"Wait, wait. What are you doing?" She flailed her arms around, stopping him.

"I'm going to carry you to the hospital wing, what does it look like?" Draco tried again and she again pushed him away.

"Carry me? You can't, I weigh far too much for a start. Just go get help, I'll be fine here." Hermione nodded, trying to convince herself as well as him.

No, he wasn't having any of it. "You're being an idiot now. Of course I can carry you, I'm not leaving you here on your own." The blonde man waited patiently, knowing full well she'd have to give in.

"Okay, fine. But I'm _not_ an idiot." She crossed her arms over her chest in exasperation and allowed him to lift her up. Draco was stronger than she thought, his muscles felt quite bulky against her. With that they set off out the classroom and down the corridor, their pace wasn't particularly quick but that was to be expected.

"You don't weigh that much, Granger. I don't know what you were talking about earlier." Draco glanced down at her, it felt very weird to have her in his arms like this. _Very weird._

Hermione couldn't help but feel venerable in this state, firstly she couldn't walk and secondly Draco Malfoy was carrying her. She heard what he'd said but didn't know how to answer. His breath was warm against her face so she tilted her head away, avoiding it as best she could. It felt far too comforting.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the hospital wing, Draco using his back to open the doors. He set her down on the nearest bed, putting a pillow under her leg to elevate it.

"I'll go get Pomfrey." Draco made his way to the old woman's office. Hermione sat alone, observing the other beds and seeing one was occupied. It was Ginny. What was she doing here?

Draco knocked on the office door and after a few minutes the medi-witch appeared in her nightgown, it was pink.

"What is going on?" Madame Pomfrey looked annoyed and worried all at once.

"Granger and I were patrolling and we bumped into Peeves. A plane fell on her leg, will you just come and help her?" The amount of blood she must have been losing caused panic to surge through him. Madame Pomfrey nodded and Draco led the way back to Hermione, who was watching another patient curiously.

"Miss Granger, good heavens!" Pomfrey removed the makeshift bandage and examined Hermione's injury closely before something else caught her eye. "Mr Malfoy, you're bleeding." The witch was looking down at his legs, his trousers were ripped and covered in blood. Draco gazed downward, his own pain suddenly hitting with such a force he swayed on his feet. "Sit." Madame Pomfrey pushed him to the neighbouring bed and he did as instructed. The witch scurried off, returned seconds later with new bandages in her arms.

"Sort her out first, I'm fine." Draco nodded towards Hermione before sitting further back on his bed. He could deal with this pain easily enough, it was nothing compared to the Cruciatus curse. Madame Pomfrey glanced at him disapprovingly before placing the bandages down and waving her wand at Hermione's leg. Dry blood washed off her skin and the new blood flow lessened. This allowed the medi-witch to begin wrapping the wound in the bandages.

"Can't you use magic? It'll be quicker and then you can help Malfoy." Hermione shut her mouth when Pomfrey glowered up at her. Moonlight entered the windows and lit the room a fraction, allowing her to see Draco sat back against his pillow with his eyes closed. "Now isn't the time to be sleeping, Malfoy." She watched as he opened one eye lazily, glancing at her.

"What else do you suppose I do? Dance?" He sounded like the normal arrogant pig, even is he didn't look like it. In fact, he hadn't really acted like it lately either. That was what puzzled her the most.

"Stop bickering. You're done Miss Granger." Madame Pomfrey moved to Draco's bed. "You won't need bandages. I'll just stop the bleeding and clean you up a bit." The witch waved her wand and the bleeding stopped quite quickly, but the dry blood was more difficult to remove. It took three more hits of the spell to remove the red tinge from his skin, leaving hundreds of little red gashes in its place.

"I'll just be going then." Hermione moved to the edge of her bed, about to stand.

"What? Don't be absurd, you're staying here tonight. Both of you." The witch's high pitched voice ordered before she gathered the remains of bandages. "Get some sleep, you can leave in the morning." With that Madame Pomfrey made her way back to her office.

"Madame Pomfrey, before you go, what's wrong with Ginny?" Hermione eyed her friend cautiously before returning to look at the witch. The old woman didn't usually give out patients' details but as she knew Hermione and Ginny were close friends that didn't seem to matter.

"Just fatigue, nothing to worry about." The witch then disappeared, leaving the two prefects in silence.

"Fine by me." Draco muttered as he stretched out on the bed, ignoring any mention of the Weaslette who was sound asleep anyway. Hermione watched him close his eyes, not even bothering to get under the covers. At this thought she looked down at her own leg, getting under the covers would probably hurt. So she followed suit, laying her head on the pillow and staring at the ceiling.

"Malfoy?" She broke the silence briefly and heard him sigh.

"Yes?" Draco kept his eyes firmly shut.

"Thank you." Hermione tilted her head in his direction slightly to see he was still motionless.

"I couldn't exactly leave you, Granger. Now go to sleep." The blonde yawned before rolling on to his side. She stared at his back momentarily before looking back up at the ceiling, a yawn emitting from her own mouth.

.

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><p>.<p>

Theres chapter 4 for you, again, a lot of this wasn't planned, mainly the whole peeves bit. But hopefully you still liked it and they dealt with it how their characters should have. thank you again for reading, it means a lot! And feel free to drop a review :)


	5. Chapter 5: Mind Playing Tricks

Chapter 5: Mind Playing Tricks

The news of Hermione and Draco's run-in with Peeves travelled fast around the school, but not before Ron marched his way into the hospital wing the next morning. It had barely passed eight a.m. when the double doors were forced open and the fuming red head stormed into the room. Hermione was sat up in her bed reading a book she'd found in her bedside dresser while Malfoy lounged on his own bed, arms behind his head. Ginny was conscious now too, scribbling into a small journal, using her fingers to count every so often. Though, they had no idea what she was counting.

"What did he do to you?" Ron's voice bellowed through-out the room causing Hermione to look up from her book in surprise.

"Ron," She smiled at his presence before noticing his glare in their fellow prefects direction, his ears noticeably pink.

"What did he do? What did you do?" A hand shot into his pocket and his wand was pointed at the blonde man within seconds. Harry arrived, grabbing Ron's arm quickly, attempting to lower it.

"Calm down, mate." Harry stared sternly at Ron who growled in frustration. When the wand fell limply to the red heads side Harry allow his attention to waver as he glanced around the room. "Ginny?" He spotted his girlfriend, brows furrowed. It took him two strides to reach her bed and she quickly put the small journal in her bag. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just felt a bit ill last night, that's all." Ginny leant forward and he sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her into a hug.

Ron studied his sister closely, making sure she was okay before turning his attention back to the matter in hand. "Hermione, what happened? Did he hurt you?" He rushed to her bed, tucking his wand sheepishly into his back pocket. It was easier to get to there, if he needed it again.

"No, I didn't fucki-" Draco cleared his throat mid-swear, stopping himself from getting angry. "I didn't hurt her, Weasley. I barely touched her, and that was only to get her up here in the first place." Draco sat up, crossing his arms.

"I'm okay, really. We ran into Peeves during patrolling." Hermione shifted sideways to give her boyfriend room to sit.

"So he did touch you?" Ron shot a glare in the blonde's direction. Draco went to reply but Hermione beat him to it.

"To carry me here, yes. He didn't hurt me." She placed a hand on his elbow, shaking her head to reassure him. There was a pause as he surveyed her body head to toe, double checking. When things seemed satisfactory he put a hand on her cheek and leant in for a kiss. Hermione turned her head and his lips collided with cheek instead, something making her feel too uncomfortable to kiss him. She hugged him quickly, in case he'd noticed her reluctance.

"Well, this is all very touching," Draco got off his bed, wincing at the pain shooting through his legs. "But I have better places to be, with better company." He made his way to the door, finding it difficult to walk with his usual swagger when his legs stung so much.

"Madame Pomfrey hasn't said we can go yet, Malfoy." Hermione called after him in protest.

"Your point?" He replied, continuing to walk, not sending any of them another glance. The doors still stood open and he slipped out quickly. The dorm shower was calling his name, as he hadn't returned since the night before.

Ginny and Harry were standing now, Ginny in one of his jumpers from her mother, a large 'H' in the middle. It was nice and big, keeping her warm against the coming winter weather. Harry watched after Malfoy, slightly appreciative.

"He carried you here? From the second floor?" Ginny glanced up at Harry briefly before looking to Hermione for an answer.

She nodded. "Yeah. I know, I did tell him not to but he insisted." The book she'd been reading earlier fell off the side of the bed and Ron bent to pick it up, placing it on the bedside table.

"Probably wanted to piss me off." His eyes narrowed. The thought of that git even considering touching Hermione made his skin crawl.

"Not everything he does is to piss you off." Hermione snapped, pushing him off her bed so she could get up. It hurt but she gritted her teeth through the pain, putting more weight on her unharmed leg. "He wanted to help me, which is what _you_ would have done." It seemed like an impossible idea, the Slytherin wanting to help _her_. A big part of her had expected him to just leave her there, while the rest of her hoped he wouldn't.

"I know, but this is Malfoy we're talking about." Ron went to put his arm around her back to assist her, but she pushed him away.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking, thank you very much." Hermione began to limp towards the doors, thankful it was a Saturday and she didn't have lessons. "Don't you have Quidditch try-outs today?" She glanced at her boyfriend, who was following closely behind with his arms outstretched around her in case she fell. Though he kept his distance, knowing she was annoyed at him.

"Yeah, I'm late actually." An anxious frown crossed his face as he tried not to catch Harry's eye. He was doing this for the head boy, he couldn't mess it up.

"Go then, I'll be there at some point." Hermione exited the hospital wing with her friends in toe, having totally forgotten to check with Pomfrey first.

"Are you sure?" Ron stood in her path, a serious look on his face. Quidditch was important, but not as important as her. Although, he could do with a break from her when she was angry at him, which was more often than not.

"Yes, go." Her leg continued to throb as she stood staring at him for second, trying to convey that it was okay. "Go." She grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, pushing him down the corridor.

"You'll come down though?" The red head turned back to her quickly, kissing her cheek. "If you can." He added hastily. Hermione nodded and he grinned before turning on his heal and jogging towards the grand staircase. She began walking once again, the pain beginning to dull. Whether that was because her leg was going numb, she couldn't tell.

"Need any help?" Harry sided up to her, an arm around Ginny's shoulders.

"I'm good." She smiled thankfully at him then Ginny. "You two go ahead. Get Ginny something to eat, she looks starving." Harry nodded and started after Ron. As they disappeared Ginny's voice could be heard.

"I don't need anything to eat, really. I'm not hungry. Can we just go to the common room?" Hermione didn't hear Harry's answer.

* * *

><p>An hour and an half later, Hermione was refreshed and showered. She'd popped back to see Madame Pomfrey who had given her a pain easing draught, so her ankle was no longer causing as much distress. The fresh air was also helping as she made her way down to the Quidditch pitch, her arms wrapped around herself to keep warm. The pitch was rather busy, busier than she'd expected. Gryffindor students were scattered around the grass as well as in the stands, but as she got closer she realised they weren't all Gryffindors. The Slytherin team were also present along with their fellow house mates. One side of the pitch was coloured red and gold while the other was silver and green. Hermione furrowed her brow, wondering what the hell was going on. Dean Thomas was standing with a group of people she knew near by and she quickly made her way towards them.<p>

"Hermione! How are you feeling?" Parvati exclaimed as Hermione reached them. The group turned to her, all smiling. Though it was obvious there was an air of concern hovering around them.

"Better, thanks." She nodded reassuringly at them and they all relaxed slightly. That was what she loved about Gryffindor house, everyone was so caring. No one gets left behind. "What's going on?" Hermione nudged her head towards the players flying above them, green and red blurs.

"Pitch was double booked, so Ron and Warrington decided to share." Dean glanced up at the players in amusement.

"Share?" Hermione asked in astonishment. Slytherin and Gryffindor would never share.

"We know! We didn't think they'd last half an hour." Parvati looked slightly excited, glancing at Dean briefly.

"Has a fight not broken out yet?" Grey clouds were forming over head, causing dull darkness to cast over the pitch.

"Nope." Dean shook his head, leaning back against the stand behind them. "Ron's been keeping everyone in line pretty well." He nodded, impressed.

"Really?" Hermione gazed up to see her boyfriend hovering in front of the goal posts. It looked like he was shouting orders at his team mates, while his arms pointed in different directions.

"Yeah, he's been really great. Even some of the Slytherins are listening to him." Lavender interjected, her voice quieter than everyone else's. They all looked at her and she lowered her gaze to the ground, embarrassed and shy. Seamus put an arm around Lavender's shoulders and pulled her towards him, turning his head to mutter something in her ear. The rest of the group looked slightly confused, though they couldn't help but smile. Seamus and Lavender made quite a cute couple, if that was what they were-no one was sure.

"I'm going to sit up there." Hermione pointed towards an empty stand. "See you all later." She gave them a wave and they all said goodbye.

There were so many stairs, Hermione was beginning to wonder if this had been such a good idea. Hoping her leg wouldn't give out before she got to the top. The only reason she'd decided to come was because Ron rarely had responsibilities like these and she wanted to be a supportive girlfriend. Other than that, if anything went wrong she'd be on hand to help. Though he seemed to be doing a fine job without her.

Hermione finally reached the top of the stand and took a middle front seat, doing her best not to look down, heights had never been a favourite of hers. As she watched Ron circle the goal posts expectantly, the red head turned and caught her eye. He waved happily at her and she returned it, though a little wary because other players had now turned to watch her. After a minute Ron went back to concentrating on the try-outs and all eyes left her. Hermione let out a relieved sigh, shoulders relaxing once more.

"Fancy seeing you here, Granger." She jumped, spinning around to see Draco standing at the top of the stairs. His posture was slightly off, which she assumed was due to his cut legs.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione turned back to watch the try-outs in an attempt to look uninterested.

"Blaise is trying out, so I said I'd watch." The blonde stepped forward slightly, though still keeping his distance. He didn't even know why he'd come up here.

"That was nice of you." Her eyes didn't leave the pitch, worried he might be able to see the thoughtfulness in them. It seemed like a very un-Malfoy-ish thing to do.

Draco shrugged at this, taking the seat next to her hesitantly. "So, why isn't Potter captain again?"

"He has enough work on his plate as it is, didn't want this too." Why was she even telling him this, it wasn't exactly his business. For some reason she just felt that she could talk to him about it and he wouldn't use it against them later.

"Ah, right. Must be awful being Head Boy, of course." Draco sounded slightly sarcastic and she turned to look at him.

"It's a hard job." Her matter-of-fact tone was present when she spoke. Perhaps telling him hadn't been such a great idea after all.

"I know, that's why I turned it down." Draco turned his head away from her to hide his smirk. Hermione's jaw had basically dropped to the floor and it caused him much amusement.

"What?"

"McGonagall offered me the position in my letter, but I declined." The clouds overhead were beginning to disperse, causing rays of light to hit the pitch from different angles in swirling patterns.

"But-you?" Hermione's brows were furrowed in confusion. Thinking of the Slytherin as head boy made her shudder, what would the school have been like under his watchful eye, she'd never know.

"Yes me, apparently Dumbledore-" He winced at the name, recomposing himself quickly before continuing. "Apparently he left McGonagall a letter, asking her to appoint me."

"Why would he do that?" Draco shrugged again. "Oh, no offence." She added quickly, realizing how rude she must have sounded.

"None taken." He shook his head, the same thoughts had run through his own mind at the time. It possibly had something to do with his mission in their sixth year, the one he'd failed to accomplish.

Hermione went to speak again when someone appeared where Draco had been standing earlier. "Hi." It was Luna.

"Luna! Hi." Hermione greeted warmly, offering the seat on her other side. They hadn't seen her since the breakup from Neville, the whole fiasco proving too much for her. "How are you?"

"Okay." The blonde woman made her way over and sat in the seat Hermione had gestured towards. The only noise that could be heard was that of the players flying past every so often. Draco leant forward on his thighs and Hermione leant forward on the wood to see Ron now on the ground. He waved up at her a few times and she waved back, seeing Draco fidget awkwardly each time. The silence was then broken. "Sorry about the other day, Draco." Hermione found it strange to hear his first name leave Luna's lips, she was one of the only people who used it. She couldn't help but wonder what it would sound like leaving her own lips.

"It's fine, as long as you're alright." He turned to look at Luna and she nodded.

"Thank you." This concluded their conversation and they sat in silence for the rest of the try-outs. It had been awkward and uncomfortable to begin with, but they soon all settled into each others company as if they were old friends. Which Luna and Hermione were, it was just Draco who was out of place. However, it no longer felt that way.

When the try-outs ended they preceded to descend the stand, Draco and Hermione finding it a lot harder to descend than climb. They reached the bottom and Draco went straight to the Slytherin team, receiving several claps on the back and a few handshakes. Even though he'd only got on the team that first year due to his father, he'd become a valued and respected member. Now he wasn't on the team at all but they still looked to him for advice and guidance. Hermione found it strangely sweet.

Ron jogged up to her from the Gryffindor team, kissing her cheek and nuzzling her neck.

"Ron! You're all muddy and smelly." She cringed away from him with a laugh. The team wolf whistled behind him and he threw a hand gesture in their direction.

"Sorry, not my fault I can't resist my own girlfriend." He went in for another kiss.

"Stop it." She hit him in the chest.

"What did Malfoy want?" Ron's face became guarded as he shot the Slytherin a glare.

"Oh, just something about our Ancient Runes homework." Hermione lied. Luna was stood near by, leaving them room to talk. Ron saw Luna and pulled her towards them, shoving an arm around her shoulder.

"Alright, Luna?" He grinned down at her, she smiled back but removed his arm quickly.

"You really do smell." Luna nodded, backing away further. Hermione laughed, closely followed by Ron himself.

"I'd better shower then." He leant towards Hermione, attempting another kiss.

"Not until you're clean." She kept him away at arms length.

"Tough." With that he pushed her arm out the way and kissed her, she found herself not caring about the smell so much anymore. Although, the fact they were in public and being watched did. He pulled away with a grin "See you later." Ron left for the showers, the Gryffindor team joining him on the way.

"Someone hand me a bucket." The Slytherin team paused as they walked past, Blaise had spoken causing the team to laugh. Hermione's eyes shot to Draco, who wasn't laughing.

"Come on, Blaise. Leave it." Theodore spotted Hermione watching Draco, unable to fathom quite what was behind the look. He glanced sideways to see Draco staring back at her.

"What? The mudblo-" Draco had his wand at Blaise's throat before anyone could even register what happened. His other hand clutching Blaise's collar. Theodore hurriedly stepped forward, an hand griping Draco's arm tightly.

"Don't-" The blonde was breathing heavily. "-call her that." Draco's eyes had darkened, his voice an angry growl.

"Draco." Theodore warned, voice low.

"What are you talking about?" Blaise sounded confused while trying his best to look confident and undeterred. However, his eyes showed nothing but fear.

"Just don't." Draco snapped. This hadn't been planned at all, why on earth was he even doing this? He shouldn't care.

"Okay, fine. Merlin, come on guys." Blaise yanked himself from Draco's clutches. Leaving for the showers, other players trailing behind. Theodore attempted to capture Draco's eyes but he wasn't having any of it. The other team members stared at him as if he were a man possessed, as they followed Blaise. The blonde found this to be a plausible option, it would explain a lot.

Hermione stared at him in disbelief "Thank-"

"Whatever." With that he was gone, striding off the pitch without another glance in her direction. Theodore glanced at the Gryffindor in confusion before proceeding to hurry after the team. Hermione watched Draco go, completely bewildered as to what just happened. It was one thing that Draco hadn't called her a mudblood himself, but now he had stopped someone else from calling her it too. Maybe he had been telling the truth when he said he never meant it. She hugged herself tightly, wrapping her coat around her closer to protect against the cold.

* * *

><p>Draco stormed into the common to find Pansy, he needed her to take his mind off things in the way only she could. She was stood reading the notice board but heard him coming and turned to see him just in time. Draco pushed Pansy against the wall, kissing her furiously on the mouth. Her hands shot into his hair, the shock of his actions wearing off quickly. His own hands fell to her bum, squeezing roughly.<p>

When he finally pulled away it wasn't Pansy he saw, causing him to jump back horrified. Hermione Granger leant against the wall breathing hard. Draco closed his eyes and shook his head, begging his mind to stop playing tricks on him. He slowly opened them again to see Pansy staring at him, trying to decide whether she should be confused or scared.

"Fucking hell!" He growled, his hands pulling at his blonde locks.

"What is it?" Pansy stepped forward. The man rarely kissed her like that anymore, so something must have been wrong.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm going to take a shower." He paced a few times before moving towards his dorm.

"Want me to come?" A sly smile crossed her lips as she stepped even closer to him.

"No!" He exclaimed, before realising what he'd done and attempting to save himself. "I mean-no thank you, sweetheart. I'll see you later." The uncommon use of 'sweetheart' seemed to relax her and she smiled.

"Okay." With that he kissed her cheek quickly and disappeared up to his dorm. Getting away from her and everyone else as soon as possible. There was some serious thinking to be done.

* * *

><p>Hermione and Ron were sat in a secluded corner of the library, potions homework in hand. They'd met up once Ron was finished in the showers and preceded to the library where Hermione insisted they do homework. She'd finished hers in no time and was now attempting to help her boyfriend, he wasn't at all interested though.<p>

"So what does this mean?" Hermione had a book in front of her and was pointing at a symbol. Ron shrugged, nuzzling her neck, lips grazing skin.

"I don't know." He kissed her neck properly this time, grinning against it.

"Will you at least try?" A cold breeze came through the nearby window and she shivered, thankful for his body heat but still apprehensive.

"I'm more interested in something else." He flicked his tongue at the skin behind her ear and she grinned; a sensitive spot.

"Ron!" She exclaimed, a giggle escaping her lips as she pushed at him. Her laughter only spurred him on further. She caught his lips with her own in order to stop the tickling sensation. His hand began to run up her thigh, the higher it got the more uncomfortable she felt. It wasn't like Ron hadn't touched her in this way before. It just felt different now, almost wrong. So she grabbed his hand and moved it away.

"It's been six months, Hermione." Ron frowned, leaning back a little to look into her eyes.

"I know, but we're in the library." It seemed like a perfectly good reason to her. They hadn't really talked about their sex life before now. They'd been together intimately but things had just happened naturally, there hadn't been a need to talk about it. "Anyone could walk past any second."

"Okay, you're right." Ron leant back in his chair, hands up defensively. "Sorry." He looked down into his lap, perhaps he shouldn't have persisted so much.

"It's fine," She attempted a smile, taking his hand in her own fleetingly. They fell into silence as Hermione turned back to the homework and Ron pulled his chair forward to start concentrating properly.

It took little over half an hour to get Ron's homework finished. They gathered their things and made their way out of the library, hand in hand. Ron hadn't spoken much since their earlier interaction, until he remembered it was the Hogsmeade trip the following day.

"Are we going with Harry and Ginny tomorrow?" His voice was quiet as they passed Madame Pince. There weren't many students around so she watched them closely until they disappeared out the doors.

"I guess, yeah. We have to patrol though, remember?" Hermione winced when her trouser leg rubbed against the healing cut on her leg, bandages now gone.

"Oh yeah. Great, more time with Parkinson." Ron groaned, noting the look of pain on Hermione's face. "Do you want me to carry your bag? Will that help?"

"No, no. I'm fine, really." She smiled up at him thankfully. The conversation earlier had been forgotten as they talked normally again, to Ron's relief.

"Malfoy isn't giving you stick is he?" The red head's face hardened and Hermione's whole body tensed.

"No, why?" She looked anywhere but at her boyfriend, shoulders rigid.

"I heard about what happened earlier." Ron tried to catch her eyes with his but failed

"What about it?" It felt like all eyes were on her as students passed by them in the corridor.

"The Slytherin team having a go at you after try-outs." Anger coursed through his veins at the thought. Why did he leave her when they were near by, he was such an idiot.

"Oh." Hermione furrowed her brow. Her boyfriend had evidently not heard what Draco did. She contemplated telling him, unsure as to whether he'd react well. It would only confuse him and possibly make him more angry, assuming the worst as usual. "Malfoy wasn't one of them. Well, he was there, but he didn't say anything." This was kind of true. Hermione was beginning to feel bad. She'd lied to him a few times now, all because of her fellow, annoyingly confusing, prefect.

"Right." Ron finally managed to obtain eye contact and she smiled at him, as reassuringly as she could. "Good." Their conversation died down after that and they continued their walk to the common room. Hermione couldn't help but think Hogsmeade would be interesting tomorrow, she had to patrol with the Slytherin and perhaps she'd mention what happened.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

helloo readers! my first comment on this chapter is about Ron, please don't hate me if you think he was a bit pushy :/ he was a lot worse in my original plan but then my best friend said he was OOC, and that's what im trying to avoid like the plague so I cut it. Let me know what you think hope you all like it. Reviews encouraged 3


	6. Chapter 6: A Shocking Discovery

Chapter 6: A Shocking Discovery

Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron arrived in the entrance hall the next morning. Luna was standing with Filch by the doors, students lining up to leave the castle. Filch had his Probity Probe at the ready, the old man and Luna were waiting for Harry to join them.

"I'll meet you in the Hogs Head later." He kissed Ginny's cheek fleetingly before hurrying over to get started. She joined the queue with Neville, who was eyeing Luna closely. Hermione and Ron stood to the side with the other prefects, keeping an eye out for any students acting suspicious. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Ron spotted a student concealing something under their jumper.

He side stepped towards Harry discreetly. "Fanged Frisbee, five back." The red head muttered in his best friend's ear. The head boy looked at Ron before glancing towards the student in question, giving one small nod before turning away again. Hermione watched her boyfriend as he returned to her side, an impressed smile on her face. No one else had noticed anything wrong.

She took his hand when he reached her. "How did you-"

"I'm more than just a pretty face, you know." Ron grinned and Hermione laughed, rolling her eyes.

Once the last students had filtered out the doors Harry and Luna began to brief the prefects on their rounds. They had to stay in their respected pairs and only patrol their assigned streets. As the heads addressed them Draco subconsciously moved nearer Hermione, she _was_ his partner after all.

"Granger and Malfoy, you're in charge of the right side of the high street. Fetter Lane, Hallam Street and Dumbarton Road." Harry pointed at them as he listed the streets, before moving on to the next pair. Hermione turned to the look at the blonde, almost jumping out of her skin when she saw he was standing basically right beside her. Where the hell had he come from, she wandered. Draco glanced at her, noticing her hand clasped in the Weasel's. He scowled and looked back at Harry, unexplainable annoyance boiling up inside him.

"Patrolling starts at 1, so decide where to meet your partner. Dismissed." Harry turned to Luna and the group erupted in talking. Pansy pushed past Hermione to talk to Ron and Hermione looked at Draco expectantly, unsure of what to say.

"Outside the Three Broomsticks at 1." Was all he said before stalking off, flinging an arm around Pansy and dragging her with him. Hermione rolled her eyes, what was his problem? One minute he was being his usual rude insufferable self and the next he was defending her, almost punching someone who was meant to be his friend. She shook her head to rid these thoughts before joining Ron, who had found Luna and Harry.

"Shall we?" Ron offered his hand but she didn't notice, her mind still reeling. They all set off out the doors and towards the village, the red head looking thoroughly put out.

The walk was uneventful but pleasant enough, people making small talk about school work and Quidditch. Hermione's eyes were trained ahead of them, watching a certain Slytherin couple walking in front of everyone else. Ron kept glancing at her every so often, their hands still not clasped like they should have been. It made Ron feel lonely, like she wasn't really there. Something was obviously bothering his girlfriend but he couldn't figure out what. Maybe it was about what happened in the library, he mentally cursed himself for being such a moron.

"Zonko's?" Harry asked as they arrived in the village, turning to Ron with a grin.

"Sure, though you know a lot of it will just be from George." Ron said, his tone almost matching that of Hermione's 'matter-of-fact' one. They fell silent at the mention of George-without Fred. Ron glanced at the floor for a second before turning to Hermione with a much forced smile. "You want to come in?"

"No, I'm alright. We'll wait out here." She turned to Luna with her last sentence and the blonde nodded her agreement. Ron clapped Harry on the back before pushing him towards the shop. "Make sure they're not buying stuff they shouldn't be." She called after them and Harry nodded over his shoulder at her. That left the two women to stand outside the shop, Hermione unsure of what to say.

"So, how is Draco?" Luna spoke first, taking the pressure off Hermione to start the conversation. Although, Hermione hadn't expected _that_ topic.

"I don't know." She shrugged, why did Luna expect her to know that? She barely spoke to the blonde other than when she had to, which turned out to be more often than not. Luna was giving her that look, as if she could read Hermione's every thought. Speaking of the devil, Draco walked past with a bunch of Slytherins surrounding him.

Luna had cocked her head to the side in interest. "He's different."

"He is." Hermione nodded, catching the Slytherin's gaze suddenly and looking away. "Let's not mention this to Harry and Ron."

"What about me and Ron?" Harry reappeared, putting a hand around Luna's waist, only to remove it again very quickly. Hermione could tell she was the only person who noticed and was beginning to get suspicious.

"Oh, we were just saying how long you were taking." She praised herself for such a good answer so quickly.

"Well, we're sorry. Duty calls and all that." Ron snaked his arm around his girlfriend, kissing the side of her face. Hermione leant away from his touch slightly, not liking the prickling feeling of his lips on her skin.

"Look at the time, Luna and I better go. See you guys at the pub." The two heads disappeared and Hermione stepped out of Ron's arm carefully, trying not to draw attention to it.

"Shall we go to Madame Puddifoot's?" She asked with a small smile. The sky was a solid light grey, almost white colour, as Ron nodded and they made their way to the tea shop.

The small tea shop wasn't very busy when they arrived, Ron pointed to a table in the corner and they sat down. He ordered their drinks and they sat in silence, waiting.

"Do you want something to eat?" The red head asked, his eyes on hers as she glanced anywhere but at him.

"No, thank you." Another smile lingered on her lips but it wasn't fooling him. He had to do something.

"Why are you being off with me?" Ron leant forward and took her hands in his. She looked down at their clasped digits, the usual butterflies had vacated her stomach.

"I'm not." Her brows furrowed, she didn't think she was.

"You are. Ever since yesterday, in the library." His voice trailed off quietly, eyes on hers.

"I told you that was fine." The fact he kept bringing it up didn't help the matter, she just wanted to forget it happened.

"You _said_ that, but you've barely let me touch you since. If that _is_ what's wrong then please tell me, I won't do it again." Ron sounded desperate as he squeezed her hands. His eyes searched for hers but she kept them just to the left of his head instead.

"It's not. There's nothing wrong, I'm just tired." Hermione watched his face fall, he was unconvinced and not likely to drop it any time soon.

"Hermione-" He stopped when Madame Puddifoot came over with their drinks. They said thank you and Hermione took a sip of hers quickly. Hot chocolate, she inwardly sighed with pleasure. Chocolate made everything better, for a little while anyway. "Hermione, please." Ron continued once the woman was out of earshot.

"Ron, I've told you, I'm just tired. Drop it already." The whole tea shop went quiet at this. Hermione glanced round to see the few people in there looking at them. "I'm fine. We're fine." She lowered her voice a little before reluctantly leaning over the table and kissing him quickly. When she sat back he was smiling, though still slightly concerned.

"Okay." Ron nodded, relieved. Taking a swig of drink before adding. "Sorry." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently, causing a smile to light up her face. They did have their disagreements like any other couple, but sometimes he was just too sweet to stay angry at. As he lowered her arm she noticed the time on her watch, they'd been there longer than she thought.

"We better get going." Hermione nodded towards her watch and Ron looked up at the clock in the tea room.

"Oh right. Yeah." They swiftly paid for their drinks and exited the shop. Hermione bid him farewell outside Honeydukes where Pansy was waiting for him, before hurrying towards the Three Broomsticks. Draco was already there when she arrived.

"Nice of you to show up, Granger." The Slytherin folded his arms, black jacket tightening around his torso.

"Sorry." He shrugged at her apology and began walking towards Fetter Lane; their first road. The air was filled with unease as they walked in silence. Hermione contemplated mentioning yesterday, maybe just saying thank you would be satisfactory enough as he hadn't let her before. "Thank you for yesterday." It was quick and painless enough, but the silence that followed was much more painful. Draco closed his eyes briefly, sighing. They turned into Fetter Lane and Hermione felt some of the awkwardness lift slightly, being surrounded by people probably hadn't helped.

"I told you I regret using it." Draco finally spoke, the tension in his shoulders lessening. Being honest always made him feel better, because it was the one thing he never was during the war.

"I know." Hermione nodded, a little surprised he didn't try to cover it up with some excuse or lie.

"So you believe me now?" The blonde stopped walking and turned to look at her seriously. A huge part of him didn't know why he even cared what she thought. He just needed closure and this woman was the only one who could give it to him. Hermione opened her mouth but nothing came out, she didn't know what to say. It wasn't as easy as he made it out to be, she couldn't just flick a switch and suddenly believe him. Or forget.

"It's not that simple." She started, about to continue when something caught her eye. The street they were on was pretty much deserted but something was moving down a side alley. "Wait, is there someone down there?" Hermione gestured to the movement and Draco glanced down the alley. He nodded, there was couple standing by the darkened wall. Draco began towards the couple quietly, Hermione close behind. When they got close enough Hermione gasped. Harry was standing very close to a female that looked a lot like Luna. They were closer than friends would usually stand. His arm was propped against the wall beside her head.

"Hermione!" Luna exclaimed, seeing the pair watching them. Harry jumped away from the blonde, turning to face Hermione with wide eyes.

"Hermione." Harry quickly tried to hide his fear by smiling.

"Harry?" Hermione narrowed her eyes in order to see better, not believing what she was seeing.

"_Potter_?" Draco's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Hello. We were just checking down here, we saw some students-"

"Don't lie to me, Harry." Hermione felt her anger start to rise. What were they doing, how could he do this to Ginny? There was no mistaking what was going on. What made her feel worse; she wasn't surprised.

"But it's-"

"Harry," Luna whispered. "You can't talk us out of this." The Ravenclaw pushed off the wall and made her way towards the two prefects, dragging Harry with her.

"Please, don't say anything." Harry began, desperation all over his face. He hadn't meant for any of this to happen.

"Harry-" She couldn't believe he was asking her to keep this quiet, shaking her head slightly as he interrupted.

"Please!"

"Fine." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, anger transforming into hurt. Ginny would be devastated; the girl was already finding things hard as it was.

"Malfoy?" They turned to look at Draco, who shrugged.

"You have my word." It wasn't any of his business. A few years ago he would have relished in the idea of spreading Harry's business around the school, but not anymore.

"Really?" Harry's eyebrows knitted together in surprise, he'd expected the Slytherin to run off and tell whoever would listen. Draco nodded.

"Thank you. We better get going," He took Luna's hand and pulled her out the alley way. Hermione reminded herself to speak to him about it later. Once the heads had disappeared they slowly left the alley, still in slight shock.

"Well, who'd have thought it?" Draco looked more than astonished, if not a little impressed too. Hermione glanced at him as they reached the road and continued along it. She didn't know what to say, she couldn't believe Harry would do such a thing.

"That must have been why she broke it off with Neville." Hermione tucked a strand of hair behind her ear; thinking. When she looked back at previous moments in the past, there had been several tell tale signs. They spent so much time together, the subtle glances they shared. Harry had put his arm around Luna outside Zonko's, she remembered.

"He'll be pissed if he finds out." Draco felt sorry for Neville, never in his life did he think he'd admit that to himself. Hermione nodded her agreement, wanting to cry at the thought of how much hurt this was going to create. How could Harry be so stupid, it wasn't like him. They left the subject there, patrolling in silence for a while. This silence was similar to what they'd shared on the Quidditch stand, comfortable and…normal.

"Malfoy?" Hermione bit her lip, unsure of what she was going to say. He turned to her but didn't say anything, unsure of what she wanted. "Why do you regret calling me a mudblood?" Her breathing caught in her throat as she waited for him to say or do something, anything.

Draco shuddered as the word left her mouth. Hearing her say it made things so much more real and made his brain thump against his skull painfully. "Because…" He didn't even know the answer. "It's a horrible thing to call someone." This was true, though Draco felt it a feeble excuse for an answer.

"I got used to it." Hermione shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Plus, I am one." This seemed to shock the Slytherin as he stopped in his tracks.

"Being muggle-born doesn't make you any less of a witch, Granger." Draco stared down at her sternly, his eyes boring into hers. There was so much emotion in that one look Hermione found it hard to concentrate, almost forgetting what he'd just said.

"I know that." She muttered, completely surprised at his words. That was yet another thing she never expected him to say. "What changed your mind?" Hermione started walking again, her fingers fiddling with her coat sleeve.

"The fact we were all seconds away from death." Draco followed suit, shoving his hands in his pockets as they walked. "It just made me realise blood status really doesn't matter. You fought a whole lot better than most purebloods." He cast his eyes to the floor, she fought a lot better than _he_ did. All he cared about at the time was himself, she cared about everyone _except_ herself.

Hermione contemplated this for a second, feeling somewhat flattered. "I believe you." His head snapped up to look at her when she said this.

"You do?" A look of surprise covered his face as hope filled his eyes. But she still didn't understand why he cared.

"Why do you want me to?" The hope was gone in a split second as he went back to watching his feet.

"I don't know, I can't explain it." Draco shrugged, frustrated with himself for being so hesitant. Hermione slowly nodded, there were a lot of things she couldn't explain either so she knew how he felt.

"Can we make a truce, Malfoy?" They reached the end of the Hallam Street and turned down Dumbarton Road, Draco glancing at her with furrowed brows.

"I thought we already had." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips and he looked away from her. Hermione faltered for a second, she'd never seen him smile properly. A smile slowly grew on her own lips and she looked at the floor in an attempt to hide it.

The rest of patrolling was quiet, the two of them just making the most of the others company without any arguing. They had rarely spent more than ten minutes around each other without being at the others throat. Draco walked her to the Hog's Head where she was meeting her friend's, unsure of where he was going after this.

"Thanks." Hermione turned to him when they arrived outside the pub.

"For what?" He asked with a smirk. She didn't even know herself, so simply shrugged before smiling at him and going inside. Leaving Draco to ponder over what the hell just happened.

Ron, Harry and Ginny were sat at a table in the pretty much deserted tavern. Hermione grimaced when she saw Harry's arm around the younger Weasley sibling. He obviously hadn't told her.

"Hermione!" Ron scooted across the seat to give her room, but she didn't sit down.

"Harry could I talk to you about some party plans?" Hermione had no intention of discussing such things.

"What, now? We'll talk later," Harry looked at her pointedly, trying to convey that it wasn't the time. Hermione didn't care if it wasn't the time, she went to reply but was cut off.

"Yeah, just relax for five minutes." Ron pulled her into their booth, gesturing to a drink they'd already bought her. She sighed and slumped into the seat defeated. They'd talk eventually.

"How's Aberforth?" Hermione asked, the man was upstairs ill. A reason why they'd chosen to drink there and not the Three Broomsticks.

"Not great." Harry shook his head. They all glanced over at the bar, occupied by a young man Aberforth had employed to look after the place. Ginny spun to look at Hermione in realisation, completely changing the topic.

"Hermione, what are you wearing for the party?" It came out of nowhere, she'd forgotten all about it.

"Oh, I don't know actually." Hermione shook her head, slightly annoyed with herself. Planning it had made her forget she actually got to go and have fun.

"Your party's next weekend, come on, I'll help you find something." Ginny stood up, kissing Harry before hurrying to the door. Ron kissed Hermione's cheek and then she joined her friend.

"See you at the castle." Hermione called over her shoulder. Ginny dragged her to Gladrags Wizardwear, the shop was empty as students had started to return to school. They searched through the dresses rack by rack, pulling out ones they thought might be nice. There were fabrics all colours of the rainbow, but Hermione steered clear of the really bright ones, sure they wouldn't suit her. Ginny waited outside the changing room as Hermione put on dress after dress, they always found something wrong with every garment. Until they came across a dark maroon coloured one, it had a green fabric belt attached round the middle, pulling her in at the waist. Ginny grinned in triumph, declaring that it was the best one she'd seen. Hermione studied herself in the mirror, running her hands down the soft material. It resembled a mix of the dress she'd worn to Slughorn's Christmas party and the dress she'd worn to Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"I think I'll get this one." Hermione took it off and went to pay at the till. Ginny made sure all the other dresses were on their hangers and back in their place before joining her. "Do you know what you're wearing? Or do you want to have a look?" Hermione asked Ginny when the woman behind the counter handed her the dress in a pretty black and red bag.

"Yeah I'm set. Don't worry about me." Ginny led the way out of the shop and back down the high street. Hermione watched the red head curiously, her coat was far too big for her and it looked like the jumper underneath it was also far too big.

"What are you wearing then?" As they walked a sudden white mist fell, it wasn't mist but snow. Hermione and Ginny put their hoods up, hugging themselves against the cold.

"Just a simple white floral dress." Ginny explained, slight tension in her shoulders suggesting she was uncomfortable talking about it. Hermione picked up on this so decided not to push the issue any further. Instead she contemplated telling Ginny about what has happened during patrolling.

"I made a truce with Malfoy." The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to properly decide if it was a good idea. Just desperate to get it out and talk to someone about it.

"You did what?" Ginny turned to look at her in the thickening snow fall. "Why?" The red head wiped sodden hair from her face hastily.

"It's fine. We're not best friends or anything, I don't even think we're friends. We just don't fight all the time." Hermione felt relieved to be able to tell someone. "He said he wished he never called me a mudblood."

"And you believed him?" Ginny furrowed her brow, this was Malfoy they were talking about. Since when had he become someone they could trust?

"He really wanted me to…and I think I do, yeah." She nodded.

"You're mad." Ginny shook her head slightly. However, it was none of her business and Hermione was usually a good judgement of character.

"He's changed." Hermione paused when Ginny started to laugh. "What?"

"Do you know how cheesy that sounded?" The red head laughed again, until the laughing erupted into coughing and she had to stop walking for a second.

"Are you okay?" Hermione stopped beside her friend, a hand on Ginny's back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Got a cold coming on I think." They continued to walk, a little slower now though. "So what does this truce mean?" The question lingered in the air as Hermione pondered an answer.

"I don't really know." She shrugged and Ginny shook with laughter again.

"Okay, just be careful." The castle came into view through the falling snow, which was thinning.

"Yes, yes. Don't tell Harry or Ron though." When the younger witch didn't answer Hermione nudged her shoulder. "Ginny, please."

Ginny sighed. "Yes, fine. Not a word." Hermione spent the rest of the walk back procrastinating over what exactly this truce meant. Were they friends now? For some unknown reason, she hoped so.

* * *

><p>"Harry, we need to talk about this." Hermione and Harry were stood in the Room of Requirement waiting for Ron to turn up with the decorations. Harry was bustling around the refreshments table, counting the food and drink for the fifth time.<p>

"Not now." He mumbled, not daring to look up at her. This was the same excuse he'd used the last five times Hermione had tried to talk to him. Talking to her meant addressing what he'd done, what he was still doing. Hermione would only make him feel worse than he already did, and tell him what he already knew.

"You can't avoid it for much longer, Harry." Hermione took a few steps towards him, her arms crossed firmly over her chest. She could see his own chest rising and falling under his clothes; he wore his normal jeans with a white top, black dinner jacket over that. If she wasn't mad at him, she might have admitted he looked nice.

"Avoid what?" Ron appeared, decorations box weighing him down. Hermione surveyed his outfit, he was wearing dark blue jeans with a red and black checked shirt. He hadn't done much with his hair, but Hermione thought he looked more handsome that way.

"Nothing." Harry answered quickly. "Just some homework I can't be bothered to do." Ron looked satisfied enough with this answer and proceeded to dump the decorations on a nearby chair. Hermione smiled at her boyfriend before trifling through the pile and pulling the drapes free. She pointed her wand at them and began to arrange them around the walls so they hung from the ceiling. An idea she'd got from Slughorn. The drapes were multi-coloured, mainly including all the house colours. Ron watched her with a grin before making a start on the Christmas balls, levitating them to the ceiling so they reflected light off them prettily. They worked in silence for a while, Hermione stealing glances at Harry every so often. She felt awful, not for him but for Ginny. Looking at Harry now, it felt almost like he was a different person. Not the Harry she knew.

"There's a mixture of Muggle drink in here too." Harry spoke, turning to address Ron. "Spirits and beer mainly." Ron nodded, though it was evident he didn't know what Harry was talking about. Harry held back a chuckle before grabbing a bottle of the Muggle beer. "Here, try this." He tossed the bottle at Ron, who caught it skilfully. The red head glanced at Hermione, who hadn't decided how she felt about the alcohol yet.

"Just take it easy." She mumbled, glancing back at him. Ron took a swig, licking his lips as the liquid slid down his throat. Hermione had finished assembling the drapes and stood beside him, watching carefully. Some people could handle their alcohol, while others could not.

"Not bad." He took another two gulps before setting it down on the refreshment table and looking over the other alcohol present. Hermione still wasn't sure how she felt about this, or where Harry had even got the stuff from. Of course, she'd had Muggle alcohol before. At parties with her parents or Muggle friends, although the number of them had decreased dramatically over the years. Getting drunk and passing out didn't appeal to her, but being slightly tipsy was okay. The happy and giggly stage was where she stopped herself, never daring to venture further. Who knew what would come gushing from her mouth then? Hermione wouldn't admit it, but she kept a lot of things hidden in the recesses of her mind. Alcohol would only bring them out to play, and she had a feeling that game wouldn't be a very fun one.

"Bloody hell! That's strong!" Hermione was snapped back to reality when she heard Ron splutter and cough through his words. She turned to see the boys doubled over, small glasses in their hands. Hermione recognised those glasses.

"No, don't start drinking that now!" It was obvious what they'd just drank, did the Muggles call it vodka? She hurried over and screwed the lid back on, shoving it under the table so it was concealed by the table cloth. Harry poured bright blue liquid into a glass, hoping it would loosen his best friend up.

"Here, try this." This beverage she recognised as not being a strong one, her mother had given her something similar during the summer. It smelt zesty as she raised it to her nose briefly, breathing in before taking a sip. The sweet taste of berries lingered on her tongue as she passed it to Ron. He made a face and handed it back with a frown, causing Hermione to laugh lightly. Ron picked up his bottle of cider again, content with just that for now. Harry opened himself a bottle of the same stuff, gulping down half of it quickly while Hermione wasn't looking.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

I really hope you think Hermione and Draco's interaction was believable. Also; Harry and Luna! :O I hope that hasn't pissed anyone off, I think it's quite possible, even if it does make them douches. Harry's still a man and he's still gonna make mistakes, he saved the wizarding world so now he has time to make mistakes and learn from them. I had to put the beginning of the party here too, otherwise the next chapter would be far too long. Thank you very much for reading; let me know what you think I'd love to hear your opinions. 3


	7. Chapter 7: Let The Party Begin

Chapter 7: Let The Party Begin

The room looked presentable enough; there were tables and chairs lining the back wall opposite the door. A large space lay in the middle of the room to act as a dance floor if it was needed. Harry had a record player borrowed from McGonagall which stood next to the refreshment table. The professor had explained that all they had to do was think of a song and point their wand at it. Hermione knew plenty of music she liked, but doubted any of the other students would know it, due to it being mainly Muggle.

A set of beanbags were arranged along the left wall opposite the refreshments table, all in different house colours. In the corner of the room were two doors directing to the toilets, 'Men' and 'Women' printed on them in dark script. The last feature, which Hermione was most proud of, was a set of double glass doors leading to a balcony. Never before had the Room of Requirements fabricated a place outdoors, even McGonagall had been shocked during her inspection of the room. It would be a nice surprise for the other students and Hermione looked forward to seeing the looks on their faces. Just as she thought this the door opened and four people appeared. Ernie Macmillan closed the door once Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley had stepped clear of it.

"Evening." Harry grinned, beckoning them over to the table. "Drinks?" He pointed to each of the bottles in turn, explaining what they were. Hermione was about to greet them when the door opened again, Zacharias Smith fumbling into the room looking dishevelled.

"You could have waited, guys." He exclaimed in irritation, attempting to get his breath back.

"It's hardly our fault you enjoy looking at yourself in the mirror so much." Ernie chided with a sly smirk. The other men in the room snorted with laughter as Zacharias scowled at them.

"I didn't take that long." He muttered in defence.

"You took longer than Susan, and that's saying something." Justin responded, causing another round of laughter.

Susan's brows furrowed in offence and she hit him in the shoulder. "Hey! Keep me out of this." Justin raised his arms in surrender, mumbling apologies as he pulled her towards him and kissed her cheek. The two had been an item for a while now and Hermione surveyed Susan closely. She was wearing a pink blouse tucked into a black waist-high skirt that hugged her thighs, it almost shocked Hermione how sophisticated the woman looked. Hannah stood next to her best friend awkwardly, wearing a lemon yellow dress with black floral print down the sides and around the bust. Hermione wondered whether Susan having a boyfriend had affected their relationship, it looked like it had.

"Hannah, do you want a drink?" Hermione stepped forwards in an attempt to make things less awkward for the poor woman.

There were so many different colours spread across the table, it was difficult to choose. "What's this one?" Hannah picked up a bottle of bright red liquid, a look of excitement in her eyes. Before Hermione could answer Hannah had read the label and opened it, swigging from it several times.

"Nice?" Hermione chuckled lightly in surprise.

"Yep. Susan try some of this." There was barely time for a nod as Hannah pushed the bottle into her best friend's hands. Susan took a sip, Justin watching her in amusement.

"That's nice, can I have some?" Hermione nodded and opened another bottle, handing it to Susan with a smile. "Thanks." She grinned. The men began a discussion about Quidditch once they all had their drinks, giving Hermione a chance to look over them. Ernie and Justin wore dinner jackets much like Harry's, although Justin's was navy blue and not black. They also had proper button-up shirts underneath, unlike Harry. Zacharias seemed to have similar taste to Ron, wearing dark jeans and a plaid shirt, however he'd added a brown leather jacket on top.

"Hermione, you look stunning by the way." Hannah spoke, ignoring the men's conversation entirely. Hermione looked down at herself in the dress she'd bought with Ginny last week.

"Thanks." A blush reddened Hermione's cheeks as she cast her eyes to the floor. Complements towards her were rare, or it felt like they were. "You two both look amazing." It felt almost compulsory to return the statement, but they both _did_ look rather lovely so it wasn't like she was lying.

"Thank you." The two girls chorused, curtsying with quiet laughter. Hermione was mid-laugh when the door swung open and Michael Corner burst into the room with a large grin on his face, arms stretched out.

"Let the party begin!" Michael exclaimed, turning to look at them all, several bottles now under one arm.

"Someone's already been drinking." Ron sniggered, as did everyone else. Anthony Goldstein pushed Michael out of the door way to let himself and Terry Boot through.

"How did you guess?" Anthony took the bottles from Michael and put them down on the table quickly.

"More than his fair share, may I add." Terry closed the door as he spoke, sounding slightly exasperated.

"What is this stuff?" Ernie picked up one of the bottles, drawing it up to his face to read the small print.

"Best whiskey you will ever drink." Michael pointed at it proudly. "Had dad send it last week." Hermione could tell Michael was in the happy phase of drunkenness at the moment. He shrugged off his dinner jacket to reveal a grey waist coat over a white shirt, tie undone and hanging limply around his neck.

"It's not half bad, try some." Anthony grabbed several cups and began to pour the dark brown liquid into them. All the men took a cup while the women decided to stick to their fruity beverages.

Ernie spluttered, spitting it back into his cup. "That is disgusting."

"Some people just aren't cut out for the hard stuff." Justin clapped his friend on the back with a chuckle. Ernie was about to protest when Seamus, Dean and Neville arrived, closely followed by Lavender, Parvati and Padma.

"Evening all." Dean entered their circle, that of which no one had even noticed they'd formed. He shook the men's hands in greeting before reaching the refreshment table and surveying the spread. The tall man was wearing smart grey trousers and a red jumper, pink shirt collar visible underneath. Neville was behind him in seconds, ever since he'd broken up with Luna his confidence had dwindled, retreating back into himself like before the war. He reached for a drink and Hermione noticed how toned his arms had become; he wore a brown jumper with a white shirt below, tie slightly askew.

"Hermione." Three voices chorused behind her and she spun to see her fellow dorm occupants, plus Padma. Parvati's dress was sparkling in the light from the hundreds of candles around the room, it was a gold haulter neck with black leaf print all over. Hermione was sure she might be blinded, and turning to Padma wasn't any better as she was wearing the same dress but with the colours reversed.

"You both look…bright." Hermione looked around for the word, hoping they would take it as a compliment. They did, laughing happily. They both hugged her before moving towards the drinks, allowing Hermione's eyes to land on Lavender, who looked uncomfortable. A long top fell from her shoulders, the material looked thick like a jumper and it had four different coloured sections running down from her left shoulder. The first was black and included her right sleeve, the second was patterned white and silver, the third just metallic silver and the last, dark grey including her left sleeve. Hermione thought she was rather covered up, not really showing any of her body, perhaps she'd worn it for that very reason.

"So now we wait." Ron muttered, crossing his arms. The Slytherin students were late.

* * *

><p>The room went deadly silent as the Slytherins stepped through the door. Theodore Nott was first, clad in black trousers and black cardigan, a patterned purple shirt underneath. He was closely followed by Tracey Davis, who looked the least formal out of everyone in a beige top tucked into blue jeans. A brown belt finished off her outfit and Hermione envied how skinny she was. Blaise Zabini had a hand on Tracey's hip as he came in behind her. This puzzled Hermione for a second, she was sure none of them had got on with Tracey before, she was a half-blood. Perhaps more of the Slytherins had changed than she first realised. Daphne Greengrass tossed her hair over her shoulder as she entered the room, she wore a practical ladies white dinner jacket over a pretty light blue blouse and white trousers. Behind her Pansy Parkinson was laughing, attention on whoever was following her. Hermione almost did a double take when she saw what Pansy was wearing; a short and tight black dress clung to the woman's body, so much so she may as well have been naked. Her legs were clad in black tights and all men in the room were staring at her, jaws ajar. Hermione could feel jealously rising inside her, only to be increased tenfold when she saw who was holding Pansy's hand. Draco Malfoy was the last to enter the room, he was no unusual sight as he wore his black suit. Blaise wore a similar thing to Draco, except his shirt was stripped purple and white, adding a bit of colour Draco didn't possess.<p>

"Sorry we're late." Tracey spoke first. Due to the fact she'd never got on with the Slytherins before meant she'd made friends with the others houses instead, namely Ravenclaw.

"Tracey! You're here!" Michael basically jumped on her, thrusting an arm around her shoulders. Tracey laughed in surprise, clearing her throat when she smelt the booze on his breath.

"What's he been drinking?" Her eyes landed on Anthony and Terry, the two she knew best in the group. They'd seemingly forgotten she was in Slytherin until now.

"Whiskey," Anthony pulled Michael away before hugging her himself. Terry did the same before the room fell into silence once more. To say it was awkward would've been an understatement. Hermione could tell the men were just waiting for something to rile them.

"Right, since we're all here," Harry began, grabbing a chair and standing on it so he could see everyone. "From this second onwards, we are all just students-human beings even. We don't have houses, we aren't separated by our differing personalities. We simply exist." The group listened closely, some rolling their eyes, others holding back snorts of disbelief. Harry got off his chair and moved to the drinks. "Malfoy, drink?" Everyone turned to stare at Draco, waiting for his reply. It was almost as if they were the two in charge and once they allowed it, everyone else could let go of bad feelings. Hermione tried to catch Draco's eye, but he wouldn't succumb.

"Okay." The blonde slowly nodded before making his way to Harry. Maybe this party wouldn't be as bad as he thought. Pansy trailed along after him, a few heads following her as she swayed her hips.

"Can we put differences aside?" Harry handed Draco a bottle and he swigged it quickly. It tasted better than he'd expected, so he nodded his answer. Plus, Harry _had_ helped keep his mother out of Azkaban.

"Parkinson." Pansy turned abruptly to see Parvati and Padma smiling at her. "We love your dress." The sisters felt proud of themselves for saying it, usually they'd just think it.

"Erm, thanks." Pansy furrowed her brow, surprised but flattered. She didn't think the whole idea of being friendly would actually work, but maybe she was wrong. "I-I really like yours too." The two women in front of her grinned, who would have thought Pansy Parkinson would be nice to _them_?

"Right, game time!" Michael yelled, almost deafening the ones around him. "Get in a circle! Come on." Everyone did as they were told, sitting in a circle on the floor. Silence fell again as they waited for someone to say something, gulps of drink being taken every few seconds to relieve the tension. It was broken by another loud revelation from Michael. "Fuck this. So what, they're arrogant twats," He gestured towards the Slytherins. Who would have been annoyed if the drunken man didn't have a point. "You're brave bastards," He pointed towards Neville and the rest of the Gryffindors. "You're excellent at 'finding' shit," His fingers made a quoting movement as he stared at the Hufflepuffs. "And we're smart arses." He clapped Antony on the back as he pointed to himself and his fellow Ravenclaws. "We're all far more than just that, so come on, let's forget and have fun." Everyone stared for a moment, glancing across at one another. No one was sure of what to do, until giggles erupted from Parvati and Padma, causing the rest of the group to relax and grin.

"Tell them the rules, Ant." Terry took this as a good sign and chucked a bag of what looked liked sweets at Anthony.

"Okay," Anthony began, sparing a glance at his drunken friend before continuing. "Take a Bertie Bott's bean, if you get a gross one you have to do a forfeit or something, whatever." Justin was to Anthony's left, so he went first. He shoved his hand into the bag and pulled out a green bean, he popped it quickly into his mouth, eyes closed tightly. He choked, swallowing it quickly with a look of disgust. Everyone laughed, some cheering at his misfortune.

"Unlucky, Fletchley." Blaise called through the noise, the other men nodding along with him.

"Forfeit, forfeit!" Ron chanted, soon followed by several others.

"Lick salt off Daphne's stomach!" Michael announced before anyone else could suggest anything. Justin looked to Susan for approval and she nodded with a small smile.

"Daphne? You game?" Blaise, who was sat beside her, asked with excitement.

"Someone better get the salt." She shrugged her jacket off and tossed it at a table behind her. The men grinned in surprise and Anthony rushed to the refreshments table. When he returned Daphne had fallen gracefully onto her back, top pulled up a little to reveal her stomach. Anthony passed the salt to Blaise and he poured it onto her skin carefully. Justin crawled over and when they were ready he flicked his tongue out and scooped up the salt. It tasted vile but he kept it down, smiling apologetically at Daphne before returning to sit with his girlfriend. Susan wrapped an arm around him, snuggling into his chest, letting him know it was fine.

"Next!" Everyone chorused and Susan took a bean, her facial expression didn't change as she got a strawberry one. People moaned and groaned as she grinned at them all, shrugging. Hannah was next, her face twisting in discomfort as the bean made her tongue burn.

"Kiss Michael!" Susan ordered quickly, not allowing anyone else a chance to speak. Everyone burst into laughter as Hannah grimaced.

"Go on, do it." Terry and Anthony grinned as Michael crawled towards her.

"Yeah, go on Han." His lips were pouted ready and his eyes closed, making everyone laugh harder. Hannah sighed before leaning forward and kissing him, she let his tongue brush against hers before pulling away. It had been longer than a peck, which was what everyone wanted, but not long enough for him to enjoy it too much. Michael gave an audibly groan before heading back to his seat, receiving several claps on the back as he went. Ernie, Zacharias and Lavender went next, all of them getting nice flavoured beans, receiving boos from the rest of the group. Seamus tossed a bean in his mouth, immediately spitting it out again in revulsion. Everyone cheered again, finally someone getting another forfeit.

"Play one round in your underwear." Lavender smirked as everyone stared at her in pleasant surprise. The alcohol she'd drank was obviously making her more confident. Seamus looked around the circle for help, instead everyone yelled at him to do it so he begrudgingly stripped to his boxers. Dean wolf whistled, provoking more laughter. Lavender's forehead fell onto his shoulder as she laughed, whispering something in his ear briefly. It was Neville's turn so he took a bean, to his relief it tasted of custard, he liked custard. The bag landed in front of Dean and he pompously took a bean, it barely touched his tongue before he spluttered.

"Give Parvati a love bite." Seamus almost yelled before taking a large swig of his drink. Padma basically screamed with laughter, rolling around in her space between Dean and Parvati happily. Dean stared at Parvati who brushed her hair from her neck expectantly, the drink already gone to her head too. Dean hesitated on all fours, contemplating whether this was a good idea. Seamus pushed him roughly so he had no choice; he reached Parvati and started work on her neck. Hermione was sat giggling between Ron and Draco, wishing she'd re-evaluated her position before taking it. Drinks had been piled on her since they'd sat down and she had now reached her happy dizzy stage. Cheers erupted around her as Dean's lips left Parvati's neck, a red and purple mark in their place.

"Finally, I thought we'd be here for days." Draco joked as Dean sat back down. More laughter emitted around the circle, people grinning at Draco in amusement. Hermione gazed at him with a smile and he glanced sideways to see her staring at him. "What?" He muttered, entertained by her tipsiness.

"Nothing." She shook her head, beaming at him before turning back to the game in hand. Padma grabbed a bean, chewing it happily when it turned out to be orange. Parvati did the same, her eyes tightly shut before realising it tasted gross.

"Do your worst." She declared, swallowing the sweet hastily.

"Give Nott a strip tease." Padma pointed at Theodore who shrugged with a slight smirk on his lips. Parvati got up and made her way towards the man, dancing around him seductively. She put her legs either side of him, his face in line with the hem of her dress. Her hands ran down his arms as she straddled him, pushing him onto his back. None of her clothes were removed but the group found it satisfying enough and Parvati returned to her seat.

"Who knew Patil had those moves?" Blaise sniggered across at Draco while Theodore sat back up, looking slightly more than dishevelled. The two men knew Theodore well enough to guess he'd enjoyed that.

"Harry's turn!" Hermione watched as Harry took a bean, he evidently didn't like it.

"No forfeits, Ginny will kill me." He waved his arms in surrender and shook his head in protest. They all moaned loudly but let him off all the same. Hermione glanced down into her lap, trying to ignore the fact Ginny had been mentioned. It made her feel even worse.

"Okay, if Ginny got transformed into an animal and the only way to get her back was to have sex with that animal. Which animal would cause you the least psychological damage?" Seamus spoke, thinking of something before anyone else. Everyone turned to him confused, laughter echoing around the room.

"Erm…" Harry thought for a moment. "Merlin, I don't know." The alcohol was clogging up his mind and he was finding it difficult to even think of any animals. "A bear? It would be the same basic shape as a human, I could just pretend Ginny got really hairy or something." A chuckle escaped his lips as everyone fell about laughing at him. Perhaps that had been an awful answer. Ron chewed the next bean before proceeding to turn green and rush to the toilet. They all watched him go, their intoxication dulling the sense of worry. Hermione hurried after him, finding him bent over the loo, though he'd stopped puking.

"Are you okay, Ron?" She rubbed his back soothingly. The red head nodded with a grunt, flushing the toilet and sitting on the seat. He looked exhausted and still ill.

"How's he doing?" Hermione turned to see Draco leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest with a bottle in one hand.

"Fine." She answered before kneeling in front of Ron, taking hold of his face with both hands. "Do you want me to take you back to the common room?"

"Noooo, I'll be fine." Ron shook his head, getting to his feet carefully. Draco watched from the door, noise from the other room fading as he stared at Hermione. She was so caring, he found himself wishing he were the drunken red head. Before he had time to address this Hermione was helping Ron past him and out the door.

"Harry, would you take Ron up to the common room?" The circle had dispersed, people scattered across the room now instead. Harry stood from a chair and made his way over, possibly the most sober of the whole group. "He won't let me." She added with an apologetic frown. Harry nodded and took Ron from her arms, they reached the door and disappeared.

"Let's put some music on." Tracey threw her arms in the air with excitement when she saw the record player. Seamus explained how to use it and Tracey pointed her wand at it sharply. Hermione was surprised when she heard the music begin to play, it was Muggle music but they all seemed to know what it was and begin to dance.

"How do you know this song?" She yelled over the music, addressing the group who were dancing.

"We have to listen to something over summer, don't we?" Susan answered with a grin, Justin dancing behind her, his hands on her hips. The song's beat diminished for a second before the beat kicked back in loudly, vibrating through the room. The group all sang along to the song, jumping up and down to the beat.

"Come on, Hermione. Dance." Lavender pulled Hermione towards them, taking her hands and dancing with her. After Hermione's confidence increased Lavender went back to dancing with Seamus, leaving Hermione to jump with Padma and Parvati.

"Looking good, Granger." Theodore appeared beside her, putting a hand on her hip gently. Hermione grinned up at him, dancing with him wasn't doing any harm was it? In fact, dancing with him would promote house unity even more, plus he _was_ rather handsome.

A pair of eyes bore into the pair as they danced. Draco sat at a table alone, watching his fellow prefect dancing with his friend. Why in hell was she dancing with him? He had the right mind to go over and punch the bloke, before remembering said bloke was one of his best friends. Hermione's hair tossed around in the air as she moved her head with the music. Her dress was a lot tighter than it had first appeared revealing all her curves blatantly for his eyes to see.

"Draco." Pansy obstructed his view as she sat on his lap, leaning to kiss his neck. She'd lost count of how many drinks she'd downed.

"Pansy, get off." He took hold of her upper arm and stood, taking her with him. "Outside, I need to talk to you." This wasn't going to go down well, but he couldn't put it off any longer. Pansy just wasn't the girl for him anymore. She followed him out onto the balcony, attempting to put her arms around him.

"What's wrong?" Draco pushed her off him again and she pouted in confusion. The realisation of what was happening began to sober her up as fear filled her eyes.

"I can't do this anymore, I can't do _us_." There was silence as she processed this, crossing her arms to protect from the cold night sky.

"What? Why?" Her voice was quiet as her eyes looked up at him pleadingly. This was the last thing she needed right now. Their relationship was the only thing she'd been able to rely on lately. Although, this moment had been inevitable.

"There's somebody else." Draco muttered, attempting to ignore who that person was, it was just a phase. Pansy would usually protest and scream at him, but right now she didn't have the energy.

"I'm leaving." With that she went back inside. Unable to look at him right now.

"Pansy." He called, following after her. The times she didn't fight back were the worst, it meant she'd given up.

"It's fine, Draco. Whatever." Everyone in the room turned to look at them as they reappeared. The dancing group coming to an abrupt halt.

Daphne pried herself away from Blaise, hurrying to her best friend's side. "What's wrong, Pansy?" It was obvious Pansy wanted to cry, if they hadn't been in a room full of people she probably would have. But crying was the first sign of weakness, and she _wasn't_ weak.

"He's broken up with me, that's all." She shrugged. The whole room fell silent as Daphne enveloped Pansy in a hug.

"Wait-" Draco started, only to be interrupted again.

"Can we go now?" Pansy asked quietly and Daphne nodded. The music was still playing, making it difficult for everyone to hear what was going on.

"Sure, let's go." The two made their way to the door, disappearing without another word. Draco growled low in his throat, storming outside again. Blaise and Theodore both made a move towards the balcony, only to be stopped by Hermione.

"I'll go." She smiled weakly at them and the Slytherin men glanced at each other warily, quite sure this wasn't Hermione's most wise decision. She stepped out onto the balcony; Draco was leaning on the metal railing, face in his hands. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." He nodded slightly, voice muffled, not daring to look up at her. Hermione leant on the rail beside him, staring out at the beautiful view. Moonlight reflected off the lakes surface, shimmering playfully.

"What happened?" Without thinking, she jumped up and sat on the railing. Looking down at him in interest, liking the thrill of being so high up and so close to possibly falling. Yes, she'd had too much to drink.

"It doesn't matter." The blonde lifted his face from his hands and stared out into the darkness, sparing her a small glance on noticing where was sitting.

"Well, by the state of Pansy, I'd say it does." Hermione glanced at the doors when singing erupted from their fellow class members again.

"Is it really any of your business, Granger?" The blonde snapped, glaring up at her briefly. However, his poisonous frown faded when light from inside fell on her pretty face. The Gryffindor tried to seem unfazed by his outburst, staring into her lap. "You-you look nice." Draco muttered, unsure as to why he said it or whether he actually meant it. Blaming the alcohol he'd consumed and the fact it might make her forget his abrasive comment.

"Thanks." Hermione couldn't hold back a flattered smile as her eyes lifted from her lap. There must have been something very wrong with the blonde man beside her.

"I should probably get going." Draco straightened up, looking anywhere but at her. "See you around." With that he briskly left the balcony. Hermione sat watching after him in surprise, her shoulders slumping in disappointment.

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Hi readers! I hope you liked it. Did they all act how you expected? Yes, there were people missing, but i think it would have got far more confusing with even more names. Let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8: Just A Mudblood After All

Chapter 8: Just A Mudblood After All

Seventh year students woke with banging headaches the next morning, tossing each other looks of understanding across the great hall. Michael hadn't even made it down to breakfast, neither had Pansy. Though they were all sure she had other reasons. Hermione rubbed her forehead, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Ron watched her, moving his hands to her shoulders and massaging gently. A small thankful smile crossed her lips.

"I don't get it. Why don't you feel like crap too?" The annoyance in her voice was evident as she glanced at her boyfriend with a sudden frown.

Ron shrugged, attempting to hide his proud grin. "Dunno. I went to bed earlier than the rest of you, could of slept it off better?" The red head glanced across the table at Harry, who's eyes were shut as he tried to ward off the thumping in his skull.

"Can't you talk quieter?" The head boy opened his eyes, looking at his best friend in exasperation. Ron sniggered then, before kissing Hermione's cheek to stifle it.

"We have Care of Magical Creatures first." Ron announced, getting up from his seat and helping Hermione to her feet. The trio made their way out of the great hall and out towards the forest. Most of the class were already in the trees, standing outside the familiar clearing. Hagrid welcomed them all before allowing them to continue from where they'd left off. Ron gave Hermione a quick and discreet kiss before entering the clearing with Harry. Draco stood waiting for her at the back of the group, noticing her pained expression.

"Morning." His face shone with amusement, a smirk on his lips.

Hermione shot him a glare. "I take it you don't feel like rubbish then?" The queue moved far too slowly and she just wished she could go back to bed.

"Nope. I feel perfectly fine." That wasn't entirely true, he did have a slight thudding in the back of his head. But he'd be damned if he confessed that to her.

"Not fair." She mumbled to herself, eyes cast downwards. Draco's smirk grew, proud of himself for not getting blind drunk like he could have done. Things would have ended a _lot_ worse if he'd been drunk.

"You didn't fall off the balcony then?" A chuckle escaped him before he had time to stop it.

Hermione sent him a stony frown. "I got down once you left. Who would have saved me?" Her voice was dripping with malice, the smirk leaving his face and appearing on hers devilishly.

"Your boyfriend perhaps?" Their conversation had quickly turned into an exchange of un-pleasantries. "Oh no, wait. He was off puking his guts up." The two glared at each other, confusion clouding Draco's mind. He found this side of Granger a strange, yet prominent, turn on. Before either of them could speak again they reached the front of the queue and stepped into the clearing. Hermione reached the rock Draco had claimed their first lesson and sat down hurriedly, thankful to be off her feet. Draco stood next to the rock, eyes searching the sky for their little friend.

"Where is she?" Hermione followed his gaze skyward, brow furrowed.

"Patience, Granger." Draco smirked again, glancing down at her momentarily. The Gryffindor would have glared daggers at him, if something fluttering behind his shoulder didn't catch her eye first.

"There." She gestured towards their new company as the fairy landed on Draco's shoulder. The blonde looked down at it cautiously, there hadn't been a repeat of the hair pulling incident…yet.

"You hold her and I'll measure, yes?" Draco knelt on the ground in front of Hermione, waiting for her reply. She nodded, putting her hands out and taking a gentle hold of the pretty creature. Every lesson they had to record the fairy's measurements, wing span, height etc. Hagrid said it was important to check they were growing healthily, and who better to do this than the students themselves? It was a learning curve; Hermione had informed Draco when he'd first grumbled about it. The blonde retrieved the necessary equipment from his bag, namely a ruler and notebook.

"Have you got the last measurements in there?" Hermione looked pointedly at his book, unconvinced there wasn't really anything written in it.

"Of course I do, Granger. What do you take me for?" He glanced up at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. When she went to reply he put a hand up to silence her. "Don't answer that." A lazy smile crept onto her features as she carefully caught the fairy's wing between her thumb and index finger, pulling it to its full length.

The small creature struggled for a second and she quietly cooed. "Shh, shh. Be still." Hermione bent her head as she whispered, meaning the grey eyes staring at her could do so at will.

"Ready?" Draco shook his head discreetly, diverting his eyes as she lifted her head.

"Yep." The Gryffindor watched as the man lifted the ruler and placed it next to the outstretched wing. His movements were slow and tender, his tongue peaking through his lips due to concentration. Hermione tried not to stare but couldn't help it, never before had she seen him act quite so…delicately. It was bizarre- very odd- _absolutely peculiar_. Several more words ran through her mind as she stared, gaze trailing up his toned arms to his face. She was pulled back to reality, and out of whatever trance had capture her senses, when he spoke.

"Six centimetres, bigger than last time." Draco removed the ruler, leaning back on his knees in order to scribble down the measurement. Hermione tried awkwardly to grab her bag, wanting to write it down in her own book. Holding the fairy in one hand made this much more difficult and Draco looked up to see her struggling. "Here, I'll do it." He held his hand out and she stared at it for a second before willingly pushing her bag towards him.

"Thanks." Her voice was barely above a murmur as she watched him open her book and find the right page. Pen moving elegantly as he wrote down the wing length, completely different to how he'd written in his own book.

"On to the next?" Draco carefully placed her things on the ground next to his, picking up the ruler again. The way they flitted in and out of bickering was becoming more and more apparent to him the longer he spent with her.

Across the clearing, two pairs of eyes bore into the Slytherin's back. Harry would spare the blonde a glance every now and then, between measuring. While Ron's eyes never left his girlfriend and her partner.

"Why is he being nice to her?" Ron growled through gritted teeth, his grip on their fairy tightening slightly.

Harry shrugged, scrawling another measurement into his book. Eyeing his best friend closely, noting his increased anger. "Merlin Ron, let the thing breathe." He nudged the redhead's arm roughly. Ron glanced down and quickly loosened his grip on the creature.

"Sorry." He muttered, looking over at Hermione once again. "He's up to something." This made Harry role his eyes, unsurprised by the comment.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to go the same way as Lucius." The head boy's voice was quiet, not wanting classmates to over hear. The Malfoys' business was just that, _their_ business.

"Bit late for that." Ron opened his mouth to speak again when Hagrid interrupted, dismissing the class for the day.

"Well, here's an idea. Why don't you speak to her about it?" Harry packed his things away, watching Ron let go of their fairy. The red head glared at his best friend, the tone in his voice not going unnoticed.

"Okay, I will." The class began to leave the clearing and disappear back towards the castle. The two men watched Hermione and the blonde exchange a hasty goodbye before Malfoy strode after the rest of the class. Ron took this as his queue and hurried towards his girlfriend as she thrust her book back in her bag, looking slightly flustered.

She looked up when she heard his footfalls. "Ron," Hermione greeted warmly, straightening up with a smile. Her boyfriend kissed her cheek, lips barely grazing skin, before taking her hand covetously. It wasn't hard to see something was wrong; the tension in his shoulders was evident. "What's wrong?"

Ron shook his head, attempting to hide his agitation. "Nothing. Nothing at all." The three of them began to walk through the trees, Harry keeping his distance. He tried to keep out of their little spats.

"Don't lie to me. What is it?" Ahead of them, weaving through the tall trees, a certain Slytherin could just about hear them. Hermione stared at her boyfriend expectantly as they walked, unaware of whose earshot they were still in.

"You and Malfoy seemed to be having a great time back there." He gestured over his shoulder to the clearing, unsurprised when she rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

"Is that what's bothering you? You're jealous because I'm partnered with him and not you?" Hermione let go of his hand and crossed her arms in irritation.

"Who said I was jealous? I just don't like it, he's being far too nice to you." Ron's ears were slowly turning red, but she didn't care. Sometimes he was just so- she didn't even know how to finish that sentence.

"So you'd rather he was yelling abuse at me like he used to? Oh, well, thank you Ronald." It was proving difficult not to raise her voice, or hide her disdain.

"No, of course not. I just don't trust him as far as I can throw him." They were coming near to the edge of the forest now, Harry still a few steps behind them. He'd seen this coming a mile off.

"Has he been a prick to you two recently? No he hasn't. Just let him get on with it." Hermione glanced behind her at Harry, who held his hands up briefly and stopped walking.

"We're just worried about you, Hermione." Harry mumbled in his defence.

"_It is_ Malfoy" Ron added quickly.

"I know." She started walking again, slower this time. Ron started after her, while Harry waited till they were a safe distance before continuing too.

"There must be a reason he's being nice to you, you're just a mudblood after all." Hermione stopped again abruptly, staring at him in shock and disbelief. Harry also stopped, putting a hand to his forehead and rubbing it slightly. Worst thing the red head could have said. Ron quickly realised what he'd done. "That came out wrong! I meant to him! _I_ don't think that, you know I don't."

"I can't believe you just said that." She looked away from him, slightly hurt.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Ron tried to grab her hands but she pulled away.

"I think we need some space for a little while." Hermione glanced around them, not looking at him. She knew he hadn't meant it the way it sounded, but she couldn't help feel wounded.

"What does that mean?" His brows furrowed, not liking the sound of this. Cursing his stupid mouth for not shutting up.

"Maybe we should go on a break." Just suggesting it made her feel a little better, space would help her realise just how much she loved being with him. Wouldn't it?

"No! I don't want to. I-"

"I need a break from you Ron. Just over Christmas" She interrupted him, glancing at Harry momentarily. The head boy had diverted his eyes to the ground, attempting to close his ears.

"But-you're not going to come to the Burrow?" Ron tried to get her to look at him, desperate.

"I want to spend Christmas with my parents." This may not have been entirely true, Christmas with just the three tended to be quite quiet. She just needed to get away from her best friends for a little while.

"But-" Ron tried yet again to change her mind, but was cut off once more.

"I've made up my mind, I'm sorry." She carefully placed a hand on his cheek and his shoulders fell in defeat.

"Come on Ron, let her have some space. Go up to the common room, I'll be there in a minute." Harry stepped forward, finally deciding it was safe.

"Okay fine, but when we get back to school-?" Ron watched her move her hand away, wishing he could still feel her skin against his.

"We'll see, yeah." This seemed to satisfy him and Harry pushed Ron lightly forwards. The red head walked off, the spring in his step now gone. Once he'd disappeared Hermione turned to Harry thankfully, before her face hardened with seriousness. "Harry. You have to tell Ginny." She spun the subject round to him now, fed up of her own drama.

"I can't." Harry shook his head, beginning to walk after Ron in an attempt to get away from the conversation.

"Well then end it with Luna." Hermione felt bad saying it, but he had to do something to change this. What he was doing was wrong.

"I can't." He repeated sending her a sideways glance, frown covering his face.

"Fine, then at least break it off with Ginny-if you won't tell her. You can't have both Harry," This was very true, he couldn't. She hoped he didn't think he could, he was hurting people. Even if he didn't mean to.

"So you're the reason she broke up with Neville?" The question lingered in the air for a second before he nodded. They walked across the grounds briskly, having cleared the forest now. "See, if she can do the right thing, you can." Hermione kept an eye on him as he stared ahead, she could tell he felt awful about it all. Possibly his only saving grace right now.

"I will. Once Christmas is over, I don't want to ruin it for everyone." He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it slightly in apprehension. The Weasleys were his only family, he didn't know what he'd do if they disowned him. The two friends entered the castle, Hermione scanning the entrance hall as they made their way to the staircase.

"Okay." She nodded. They climbed the stairs in silence, until Harry remembered what had brought them their.

"About Malfoy, I'm sure Ron will come round. He's just worried about you." Hermione had almost forgotten about the troublesome blonde. Perhaps she should tell Harry about their truce, he would definitely take it better than Ron.

"Erm, Harry. I haven't been entirely honest with you about Malfoy." Her voice wavered slightly, hoping he wouldn't hit the roof. "We made a truce, in Hogsmeade." She closed her eyes tightly for a second, waiting for him to reply. When all was silent she couldn't help but open them again.

Harry was simply staring at her, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I guessed you'd done something like that." Hermione's brows furrowed in confusion, a hint of surprise in her eyes. She hadn't expected that.

"You did?" Were the two of them _that_ obvious? She hoped not.

"I've talked to Luna about it. At first I was fuming at the suggestion, but she convinced me it might be a good thing." Harry shrugged a little, he talked to Luna about most things.

"She did?" Hermione could hear all the questions whizzing around her head. Luna was far too observant for her own good.

"Yep. She said it could be good for him, you'll be a positive influence." Harry answered in amusement. "You were right earlier, he hasn't really been a prick to any of us lately. Plus, he's kept mine and Luna's relationship a secret." Hermione couldn't hold back a grin of pride at this.

"He-he apologised for ever calling me a mudblood." She blurted out, unable to hold it in any longer. Harry stared at her for a second and she couldn't quite make out his expression.

"Do you believe him?" The question was simple enough, yet she found it more than difficult to answer.

"I told him I did." They reached the seventh floor, portrait hole just visible at the end of the corridor. "You should have heard him Harry, it really did sound like he meant it."

"Then, I'd say there's your answer." Harry still wasn't too sure about this, but Narcissa _had_ saved his life during the war. In his opinion, he'd give Draco the benefit of the doubt for her.

Hermione turned to look at Harry, a thoughtful and thankful smile creeping onto her face. "Thank you, Harry."

"You're welcome. Good luck telling Ron though." He scoffed slightly, raising his eyebrows in amusement. That would be a very interesting thing to behold.

"I'll tell him next term." She nodded firmly, dreading the day. Harry said the password and the portrait flung open in front of them, allowing them to step inside. The portrait closed behind them with a quiet thud.

Since their run-in with Peeves Harry had insisted Hermione and Draco go back to patrolling the seventh floor, to which neither of them complained. They'd had enough of Peeves to last the rest of the year. Draco stood to one side of the grand staircase on the seventh floor, watching students as they passed, some watching him in return. The Gryffindor was late, ten minutes last to be exact. This was a rare occurrence and he couldn't think of any reason she could possibly give that would justify it. It was him who was usually late.

"Talk of the devil." He muttered to himself when a shock of brown hair came into view a floor below. When she saw him already waiting she frowned apologetically.

"Sorry, I was in the library and lost track of time." Hermione watched as he gestured for her to enter the corridor, she do so with a curt nod.

"What a surprise." Draco mumbled, a small smirk tugging at his lips. He should have known she'd be there, where else did she spend her time? The woman shot him a disapproving scowl, tucking loose hair behind her ear before looking ahead again. "I heard your little kerfuffle with Weasley earlier." He changed the subject suddenly and she did her best not to look at him.

"What of it?" Hermione shrugged, wandering what exactly he heard since a lot of it was about him.

"Well, I do enjoy being the topic of conversation." His smirk grew wider as she rolled her eyes. He'd heard enough then, and it still managed to feed his ego.

"You heard Ron call me a mudblood then?" She shot him a fake smile, it was his fault Ron had said it in the first place. Draco's mouth fell agape; he in fact had _not_ heard that part of the argument.

"He did what?" The blonde glared at nothing in particular, finding the weasels stupidity almost unbelievable. After all these years, the red head had outdone himself.

"He meant in your opinion I'm only a mudblood." Hermione didn't know if this made any sense but she didn't really care.

"We've talked about this, you know that's not true." Draco crossed his arms, glancing as his fellow prefect.

"If you'd never called me it in the first place, Ron never would have said it." Students were making their way towards them and Hermione diverted her eyes to the ground.

"Yes, but still-" The group of students passed, causing Draco's words to dwindle. They didn't want people listening in to their conversation. Once they were out of earshot he contemplated another way of going about this. "Why are you with him, Granger?"

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She'd never thought about that, it just felt like the right thing to do. "I-erm…he means well." A feeble excuse for an answer, but nothing else would leave her mouth.

"He's a blithering idiot." Draco bit out, tone harsh. Hermione glanced at him, anger building with every second. How dare he.

"He loves me." She'd never said this before, she'd never even confronted the idea while being alone. It made her feel good for a brief moment before she remember whose company she was in.

Draco paused for a second, unsure of how to take this revelation. It seemed to be new information to her, but he'd known this for years. "Ah, but do _you_ love _him_?" The question was simple enough in his opinion and he felt almost smug saying it. This meant he'd put her on the spot, made her feel uncomfortable-he liked that.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Hermione retorted, almost spitting the words. Where did he think he got the right to speak to her about such things? This was her private life, none of his damn business what-so-ever.

"But you broke up with him." The smirk was back as she stared at him in surprise.

"How did you-?"

"The house elves know everything." It was an attempt to lighten the mood, but it didn't work. News really did travel fast round Hogwarts, the argument had only happened a few hours ago. Did people really have nothing better to talk about? Gossip, that was what this was, and Hermione despised it.

"I'm not talking about this, especially not to you." She stormed ahead and he quickened his pace to keep up with her.

"Okay, you're right. It was none of my business and I apologise." Draco shoved his hands in pockets, he was still getting used to this whole 'politeness' thing. Hermione glanced at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. They fell into a comfortable silence, small groups of students passing by and disrupting the peace every once and a while. Hermione grinned when she saw Lavender and Parvati coming towards them, both girls looked worried.

"Hermione! Are you okay? We heard what happened." Parvati enveloped the prefect in a hug as Lavender gave Draco a small smile.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Hermione gave them both a thankful smile as Parvati let go of her.

"Thank goodness. We thought-" Parvati shot Lavender an anxious look, not finished the sentence.

"Thought what?" Hermione furrowed her brow, glancing from girl to girl. Neither of them answered and Hermione went to repeat the question when she was interrupted.

"Spit it out, Patil." Draco muttered irritably.

"Well, Ron's in a terrible state. So we thought you might be the same." Parvati frowned, sending Lavender another glance. "We'd better go. Have a nice Christmas." The two girls quickly gave their friend another hug before disappearing down the corridor. Hermione stared passively ahead of herself, feelings of guilt and grief forming in the pit of her stomach. She hated the idea of hurting Ron, the thought of him upset almost brought her to tears.

"He'll be fine, Granger." Draco's voice broke through her haze, he went to place a hand on her back when she glanced at him and continued to walk down the corridor. There was no way in hell she'd let _him_ comfort her, that was simply not how things were done. They patrolled in silence, the comfortable air now gone to be replaced with words unspoken. It was Draco again who broke the silence. "Granger, can I ask you something?" This question had been burning the back of his brain for days now, it was an outrageous suggestion and he was sure she'd say no, but it never hurt to ask.

"Yes, what?" Hermione turned to look at him expectantly, hoping he was about to change the subject.

"Would you come to the manor for a few days?" There-he said it. The woman's mouth fell open and he chuckled lightly, knowing very well she'd be shocked but still finding her expression oddly endearing.

"What? Why?" It had caught her off guard to say the least and she quickly cleared her throat, steadying her breathing and gaining composure. The thought of that horrible place he called home frightened her a little.

"It would be good to have company other than mother." Draco shrugged, if he was honest he really didn't know what he was thinking.

"What about Zabini or Parkinson?" Hermione glanced over her shoulder to see if any other students were in the corridor. They weren't.

"He's away, and do you think she'd come now?" He cocked an eyebrow questioningly, if Blaise had been free he probably would have asked him. Because in reality, asking his fellow prefect was not a good idea.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Hermione glanced down at her feet. "How is she?" According to the grape vine Pansy hadn't taken the breakup well, but whenever Hermione caught glimpses of the woman around school she looked fine. In a way, they were similar in that respect, Hermione would never let others see her at her worst. Alone, she could release all emotions within reason, but when surrounded by people emotions were kept in check. Hermione hadn't really held this opinion before the war but Pansy evidently had since birth.

"I wouldn't know, she hasn't spoken to me. Blaise and Theo say she's coping." Draco couldn't help but feel bad. Pansy had opened his eyes to what remorse felt like, he'd never been able to shake the feeling since.

"Well, I guess a few days couldn't hurt." Hermione returned to the matter in hand, making a mental note to bring Pansy up in conversation again later. Draco smiled and she felt goose bumps rise on her skin. This was the last interaction they shared before reaching the portrait hole and saying farewell. The whole time, and long after, Draco held onto the fact she never answered his first question.

_"Ah, but do you love him?"  
><em>_._

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><p><em>. <em>

Hello everyone hope you like this chapter. It gave me a bit of grief to begin with but thank goodness I made it. Let me know what you all think, reviews are welcome 3


	9. Chapter 9: We All Have Scars

Chapter9: We All Have Scars

Draco stood in the large door way of Malfoy Manor, watching as his house guest made her way up the drive. Hermione surveyed the large house in awe; it was beautiful, nothing like she remembered it. There was no fear here anymore, only sadness. Her eyes fell upon the man standing at the door and she felt her heartbeat quicken slightly.

"Hi." She spoke as she reached the bottom of the steps and he hurried down to help with her bags. A breeze whipped through her hair as the two of them ascended the stairs and entered the house.

"How was the journey?" Draco carried her bags with ease, leading her towards the staircase. Hermione studied her surroundings; it was even more beautiful inside. Last time she'd been here hadn't held much time for looking around, and definitely not admiring.

"Pleasant, thank you." They climbed the stairs, Hermione very much aware of where they'd arrive soon. Her breathing increased as she wandered whether he remembered that day-the day his aunt tortured her.

"I'll show you to your room." As they came closer to the top of the stairs she reached out for him, clutching his arm. He stopped and glanced down at her face, then her hand. "What's wrong?" It struck him as he followed her gaze to the top of the stairs. "Oh." Draco could remember the last time she'd been here as if it were yesterday, but he'd completely forgotten until now. "We don't have to go up if you don't want to. I'll put you in another room." He placed a hand on her back awkwardly, unsure of how to deal with this. The woman looked more than vulnerable, a rare occurrence of late.

"No no, it's fine. I'll have to face it sometime." Hermione shook her head firmly, relinquishing her grasp on his arm quickly. Draco nodded and they took the last few steps up, arriving to the large room. It also looked different to how she remembered it, a long table sat in the middle of the room now, light streaming through the windows making it look far too friendly.

"Ok?" The blonde stepped closer to her, just in case.

"Yeah." She nodded. "It's nothing like I remember it." Their eyes darted around the familiar room, Draco could see what she meant. This was his home though, and he learnt to live with it. Live with the pain, with the memories.

"Shall we?" He gestured to a corridor on their right and she nodded, following him as he began to walk again. Portraits and paintings lined the walls and a long thin rug ran the length of the corridor, wooden flooring beneath it. They passed several identical doors on the way, some had scratch marks at the bottom of the wood near the floor. Hermione decided she didn't want to know why. One door didn't have a doorknob, instead there sat a gaping whole revealing nothing but darkness within. They reached the end of the corridor where the last two doors stood opposite one another, a little distance away from the rest. "Here we go." Draco pushed the door open, letting Hermione enter first. What was waiting for her came as more than a surprise. The room was large, possibly the same size as her whole dorm back in Hogwarts. There was a bright white door in the right hand wall and double glass doors in the left wall leading to what looked like a small balcony. A large four poster bed sat in the middle of the room, red drapes hanging loosely tied with decorative rope. Hermione stepped further into the room, awestruck by how nice it all was. An oak dresser with a large mirror stood to the left between the bed and the glass doors, small stool tucked beneath. She turned around to see a large wardrobe against the wall left of the door, made of the same oak as the dresser. "Like it?" Draco heaved her cases onto the bed, eyes never leaving the woman.

"It's lovely." Hermione grinned with a nod, making her way over to the glass doors and peering out. "Is that all your land?" The beautiful view of bushes, trees and fields were covered in a shining layer of white snow from the downpour earlier that day. Specks of brown foliage were scattered as far as the eye could see where leaves had tried to break through.

"Yeah," Draco nodded, making his way over to join her. "It ends just beyond those trees." He pointed towards a large huddle of trees to the right, branches caked in white. She couldn't help but wander how much more beautiful it must all look in Spring or Summer. "Do you want to go out for a walk?" The blonde lowered his arm and glanced at her uncertainly. He wasn't very good at the whole 'host' thing, the only guests he usually entertained were Blaise or Pansy. They saw the manor as another home so helped themselves to whatever they wanted, meaning he didn't usually have to do much at all.

"That would be nice." Hermione smiled, a little surprised at his hospitality. The two of them made their way to the door and Draco led her back down the corridor. They walked in silence as she surveyed all the paintings again, a step behind him the whole way. He spared her a glance over his shoulder every so often, to check she was still there and she looked okay. Every time gave the same out-come, she was always there and always looked perfectly fine. Draco found the whole situation quite hard to believe, Hermione Granger was in his house under nice circumstances and looking happy about it. The two of them were getting along, not even a snide remark had been made yet, although there was still time. They entered the dining room once again, Hermione scanned the room cautiously as if expecting death eaters to jump out any second. She glanced at him before letting her curiosity get the better of her. "What's it like? Living in this house after everything that happened?" The question loitered menacingly as Draco contemplated an answer, no one had asked him that before.

"I guess…I've never really thought about it. I lived here _while_ everything was happening, so…" The blonde trailed off, pausing to think once more. "No more evil lingers in these walls." His eyes narrowed slightly, gazing from ceiling to walls vigilantly. Hermione watched the man closely until he shook his head and made for the stairs, following him quickly. Perhaps she shouldn't have asked.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left down another corridor, Draco stopped outside two double doors, one slightly ajar. "The study. All the books you could ever read, Granger." He announced, pushing the door open further to allow her a better view. Hermione stepped forward and looked inside, a smile creeping onto her face.

"What kind of books?" She tried to contain the joy in her voice, squinting in attempt to see at least one book title.

"All kinds. I've read most of them myself. I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy them." Draco smirked as he watched her, head cocked to the side slightly.

"How do you know what kind of books I enjoy?" The Gryffindor turned to look at him, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I know a lot of things about you, Granger." He leant against the door frame, a smug look on his face at her surprised expression.

Hermione glanced away from him, recomposing herself quickly. "Do you now? How exactly have you come to that conclusion?" She crossed her arms, trying to give off an air of confidence she currently didn't possess.

"I _observe_. Observation is key." Draco's tone was mysterious and boastful as he strode past her and down the corridor.

Hermione scoffed, turning to watch him then follow after. "Everyone observes, Malfoy." She arrived along side him once more.

"Yes, they do." He nodded with a glance in her direction before continuing. "Tell me, when you look at a person, what do you see?" Draco kept his focus ahead of him, he could almost hear the cogs turning in her brain.

"Well, I-erm. I see them? I see their appearance…" Hermione had no idea as to what she was saying. The man beside her was making very little sense.

"Exactly, you only see the person, you see what they look like. You don't see beneath that." The blonde stopped beside yet another door, Hermione almost forgetting to halt due to his words distracting her. He opened the door and gestured for her to enter, it was a kitchen.

"What do you mean?" She furrowed her brow as he entered the room behind her and led her towards the other end. It was long and narrow, counters either side with the usual kitchen appliances and utensils found in a magical kitchen. The walls were covered in white tiling which looked very new as it shone in light from the double doors at the other end of the room. These doors were mainly glass and looked much like the ones in her room upstairs, a view of the garden could be seen through them.

"I mean, there's more to a person than what meets the eye." Draco turned his head slightly over his shoulders as he spoke.

"I know that." Hermione crossed her arms, eyes gazing around the room before resting on the back of his head.

"I never said you didn't." The man retaliated defensively, not wanting a riled up Hermione in his house. Not now anyway. "I mean, there are things you can learn about people just by watching them. For example, your friend Lavender Brown; she has been very interesting to survey over the past couple of months. Almost a complete personality change there." Draco reached the doors and stopped, turning to face her.

"You know, you sound like a weird stalker." Hermione tried to hide her amusement by biting her lip.

Draco ignored the lip biting and rolled his eyes, turning away and opening the doors. "I didn't think you'd understand." The cold air from outside hit them hard and Draco shoved his hands in pockets before striding out the doors.

Hermione brought her arms around herself for warmth and followed him. "That's not fair! I was joking, I do understand." They were stood on a large patio, a table and chairs sat a few feet away to their right. Bushes surrounded the area, an opening straight ahead of them. "Lavender's not as confident anymore, she doesn't gossip as much. I know why, it's not difficult to notice."

"Do tell, why?" Draco glanced in her direction before making his way towards the opening in the bushes.

Hermione followed after him again, she'd been doing a lot of that today. "Because she nearly died, she was attacked and now has scars that will never disappear." The words coming out of her mouth affected her more than she'd expected. They were relevant for so many people, for Lavender, for herself, for the man in front of her. It made her want to cry.

"We all have scars, Granger." Draco muttered. They stepped out from between the bushes and arrived in a large rectangular garden, empty flower beds in every direction. Hermione wanted to look around but couldn't tear her eyes away from the blonde man. They stood a few feet apart in silence, Draco avoiding her stare. He couldn't help wander why he'd even invited her here in the first place, but for some reason he was glad he did. "I stumbled across her in the library the other day, crying." The man made his way towards a snow covered tree in the middle of one of the flower beds, shoulders hunched against the cold. Hermione's eyes widened slightly, hating the idea of a friend upset. "At first she tried to run away, but I convinced her to stay, and do you know what she said?"

"What?" Hermione stepped towards him, watching as he eyed the tree.

"She told me she was sorry." He turned to her then, noting her brows suddenly furrow in confusion. "I know, I didn't understand why she was apologising either. Until she explained that I must have had such a horrible life living with those people and watching them do terrible things." Draco turned back to the tree hurriedly.

Hermione nodded slightly, although she knew he couldn't see. "She was right though." The wind picked up, tossing her hair around widely as she attempted to keep it down with a hand.

"No, Granger." As if he were picked up by the wind, Draco quickly moved towards her. He stood inches in front of her and the wind came to a sudden stop, everything in the garden was still and eerily silent. "I told Lavender, and I'll tell you. No one should feel sorry for me, I could have gotten away, I could have stopped them…but I didn't. If anything, I'm the one that's sorry, to her-to you." His breathing was steady and warm as it washed over her skin, his eyes bore into hers before her gaze began to dart across his features.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Her voice was almost a whisper. "You had no choice, they would have killed you." Hermione's eyes returned to his, she'd never noticed his were a grey colour. Draco glanced down at the miniscule distance between them and stepped back abruptly. A sigh escaped his lips as he returned to the tree.

"I planted this tree when I was 11." The sudden change of subject came as a slight relief to the brunette behind him. Hermione let her body relax again and she shivered violently, unsure of what just happened. "Pathetic isn't it? It's barely taller than me." The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, he'd never been very good at gardening, unlike his mother.

"I like it." She cautiously stood beside him, keeping her distance.

"You would." Draco let out a small chuckle before beginning to walk slowly along the flower bed, leaving the tree behind them. There was another opening in the bushes ahead and they made their way towards it. Hermione now had time to survey her surroundings, bushes acted as walls around large sections of garden as they walked. Trees were dotted around the flower bed, none of them that large, the larger trees could be seen in the near distance above some of the bushes. They emerged from another set of bushes to a large expanse of grass, where the forest sat across from them. The land was slopped upwards towards the trees and Draco began to climb, Hermione close behind. Grey clouds passed over head as they reached the edge of the trees.

"You can see your room from here, look." The blonde pointed back towards the manor and Hermione followed his gaze, eyes landing on the small balcony outside what must have been her room. "My room's just across the corridor from yours." Sure enough her eyes moved across the manor and landed on another balcony pretty close to her own. It really was a lovely view, she wrapped her arms around herself tighter as the cold began to slither its way through her coat.

"It's getting quite cold now isn't it? Look at those clouds." Hermione looked up at the sky and Draco nodded, her lips were almost blue.

"Yeah. Let's go inside." They both made their way back to the house at a quicker speed than before. Hermione was more than thankful when the kitchen doors came back into view a few minutes later and they stepped into the warmth. She sighed inwardly, closing her eyes briefly. "Afternoon, Mother." Draco's voice caused her to open her eyes quickly. Narcissa Malfoy was leaning against one of the counters with a mug in her hands, watching Hermione intently.

"Afternoon Draco, Miss Granger." A small smile crept onto the old woman's face. Draco had told her he was bringing Hermione Granger to their house but she half hadn't believed him. What would bring her here of all places? Especially since what happened last time she was there.

"Afternoon, Mrs Malfoy." Hermione couldn't decide whether Narcissa was happy to see her or surprised, probably both.

"Please, call me Narcissa." The woman gave a curt nod before taking a drink of the steaming beverage in her hands. Hermione nodded her understanding, glancing at Draco with uncertainty a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Drink?" He made his way over to one of the counters, eyes on her for a response.

"No, thank you. Is it ok if I go up to my room and warm up?" Hermione felt awfully rude saying it but just wanted to get out of there for a while. She was sure there was a bath upstairs in her room and it was looking ever more appealing.

"Of course, do you remember the way, or would you like me to walk you?" Draco kept his eyes on her, undoing a button on his coat absent-mindedly.

"I remember, I'll be fine. Thank you." With that she made her way out of the kitchen, sparing Narcissa a forced smile before disappearing out the door. The two Malfoy's stared after her, Draco ran a hand through his hair before looking down at his coat and finished undoing the buttons.

"She seems nice." Narcissa turned to her son with a knowing look before taking another sip from her mug. She already knew the young woman was nice, she already knew quite a bit about her actually. But she never thought the pretty brunette would ever give her son a chance, something she was grateful for now. Of course, Draco had insisted nothing was going on between them but Narcissa couldn't help wander why else would he have invited her. Draco nodded, sending his Mother a sideways glance.

"Don't look at me like that." He frowned, shrugging off his coat and hauling it at one of the hooks on the wall by the doors.

"Like what, darling?" Narcissa feigned innocence, taking yet another swig of drink to conceal her smile.

"I told you, it's not what you're thinking. We're…" That was a good question, what exactly were they? Acquaintances? Friends? No, not friends, that hadn't come into conversation at all between them. "We made a truce, Mother. I told you that, I'm simply making sure she can see I'm serious about putting the past behind us."

"Of course, darling." His mother nodded, mug still to her lips.

Draco rolled his eyes, heaving a loud sigh. "Goodbye, Mother." He strode out of the kitchen, unable to discuss such things with her if she was going to act childish. Narcissa tilted her head back slightly, a quiet laugh escaping her at her son's behaviour. He was always so guarded when it came to his feelings; he refused to talk about them to her or anyone else that she knew of. But sometimes he didn't need to, she could tell. It had been the same with Pansy, this thought made Narcissa wander what had happened between her son and the young witch. They'd been together for years, sort of, on and off. It was sometimes difficult to tell with the two of them. Pansy had always been besotted with Draco but he would never really return such enthusiasm. It used to make Narcissa worry, but now the two of them were apart again and Draco seemed to be interested in Hermione. Though he'd never admit it, the old woman doubted he'd admitted it to himself yet either.

The next two days went quite pleasantly in Malfoy Manor. Draco had shown her the games room during one day, in which he taught her how to play wizards chess properly and she'd shown him how to play muggle snooker. Her father had taught her how to play when she was younger and she'd never forgotten. There had been a snooker table sat in the corner of the room which Draco had insisted was his Grandfather's and he knew nothing of how to use it. This had taken up most of the day and resulted in Draco winning all the games of wizard chess and Hermione winning all the games of snooker.

She helped him put Christmas decorations up on the third day; Narcissa had insisted the place looked boring and not at all festive. Draco had reminded her the house had never looked festive in his 18 years of existence and she'd proceeded to get upset and leave the room. Hermione had waited while he went after her, surprised to see how caring and worried he'd looked. On his return they'd started on putting up the decorations, it had taken several hours and once they'd finished they sat down for dinner with Narcissa.

Hermione entered the study after dinner, Draco in close pursuit with a small tray holding their drinks. He put the tray down on the coffee table and slumped onto the couch, watching as she made her way over to the bookcases and leant forward, running a finger along their spines. She grinned each time she came across titles she recognised or had already read, stopping abruptly when an odd one out caught her eye.

"Jane Eyre?" She turned on her heel to look at him, brows furrowed as her finger rested on the book.

"Yes, what about it?" The blonde lounged back on the sofa, arms spread across the back of it. The amusement was clear on his face, he'd been waiting for her to find them.

"Well, it's a _muggle_ novel."

"Keep looking." Draco smirked and she gazed back at the shelf. Her eyes grew a little wider when she spotted the titles of the next several books.

"Moby Dick, Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, Lord of the Flies?" She rattled off just a few of the names, turning back to him yet again.

"Ah, yes. I particularly like the last one." His smirk grew as he leant forward and grabbed his drink.

"You would." Hermione rolled her eyes, leaving the shelf and joining him on the sofa. A lamp sat on a desk over in the corner, meaning the light in the room was limited.

"What?" He asked when she rolled her eyes. "It makes me laugh."

Hermione furrowed her brow at him again in disbelief. "Why? It's not meant to be funny." She wandered if he'd understood what the book was actually about.

"Well, I find the idea of a group of boys stranded on an island, chasing after a pig, quite amusing." Draco took a swig of drink, gesturing towards hers, which she picked up.

"You have a twisted sense of humour." Hermione shook her head lightly before sipping her drink.

"I thought we already knew that, Granger?" He put his mug back down on the table, shifting in his place and moving his arm from on the back of the couch into his lap. They sat in silence, Hermione unsure of how to answer. She brought her legs up to her chest, feet on the couch.

"Oh, am I ok to-?" The brunette lifted her feet quickly, forgetting where she was for a second.

"Yeah, it's fine." He nodded, watching as she twisted her body in his direction and hugged her knees, head tilting sideways to rest on the back of the couch. "How's the whole Potter-Lovegood situation? Has he told Weasley yet?" Draco turned to face her slightly, her expression becoming solemn.

"No he hasn't. He said he'll do it after Christmas." Hermione shook her head against the couch fabric, it was soft and comforting.

"You don't seem very happy about that?" The blonde pulled up his sleeves and crossed his arms.

"Well, it just makes things difficult for me, that's all. I can't help but feel bad whenever I'm around Ginny and I know Ron would be angry with me if he found out I knew and didn't say anything." She didn't know why she was confiding in him, but to be honest who else did she have to talk to about it? However strange it sounded, Draco was there and listening to her.

"I can see your problem, but I've never been in this predicament, so I don't know how to help." Draco leant forward and picked up his mug again, taking a swig before giving her an apologetic look.

"It's fine. Although, I'm sure it wasn't all clean sailing with you and Parkinson?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, resting her mug on her knee. It was difficult to tell whether she should have brought the Slytherin girl up, but she couldn't help being curious about their relationship.

"Merlin, no. Nothing's clean sailing with that woman." His words weren't harsh like she thought they might be, instead he smiled a little before swigging his drink again.

"What happened between you two?" The Gryffindor spoke hastily before taking a sip of her own drink, eyes on him.

Draco paused, lowering his mug to rest in his lap. "A lot has happened." He gave a slight shrug of the shoulders.

"She loves you, I can tell." Hermione bit her bottom lip when she finished the sentence. For years she'd been able to tell Pansy was infatuated with the blonde. Of course, she'd never understood how or why, she'd never really experienced the feeling herself until forth year with Ron.

"I know." Draco nodded, the familiar feeling of guilt rising in his stomach.

Hermione watched him closely as he took another sip of his drink, sure he'd run out soon. "Do you love her?" She hadn't expected the question to leave her lips, but he had.

"I'm not-" Hermione's eyes had fallen upon his lap where his left forearm was, his words now going unnoticed. The skull and snake sat mockingly on his skin and he quickly went to pull down his sleeve.

"No, you don't have to do that." She leant forward and grabbed his wrist carefully. Draco stopped and looked at her, eyes searching hers for the fear and hatred his mark usually produced in others. He couldn't find it. "Just a scar." Hermione cautiously pulled his sleeve back to where it had been, fingers hovering over the darkened skin. For some reason she desperately wanted to touch it, reassure him it meant nothing now.

"Just a scar." Without warning he grasped her left arm, repeating her words as he lifted her own sleeve.

"Don't." Her voice was feeble and almost caught in her throat as the word 'mudblood' came into view.

"Just a scar, Granger." Draco repeated again, he hadn't seen her scar close up and it made him want to scream out in anger. Hermione had let go of his arm now, leaning back in an attempt to get out of his grip.

"I know." She muttered as he abandoned his grasp and sat back, a sigh of relief escaped her as she hugged her knees tighter. Silence fell as Hermione tugged her sleeve back down, the subject needed to be changed and fast. "Do you want me to stay tomorrow?" After calming herself she spoke again.

"Don't be ridiculous, you have to get back to your parents" Draco shook his head, surprised at the offer but thankful for the change of subject.

"They won't mind." She tucked some hair behind her ear, a serious look on her face.

"Well, we're going to see Lucius tomorrow. I doubt you'd want to-"

"Would you like me to come?" Hermione shot him a stern frown and he nodded slightly, half hoping she wouldn't see. "Then I'll come." She paused, he didn't look too impressed but that was tough. "Right, now that's sorted I'm going to bed." She jumped up off the couch and put her mug back on the table. "Night." The woman gave him a small smile.

"Night." Draco couldn't help but smile back as he watched her leave the room. Why had he agreed to let her come? This wasn't a good idea. He didn't know how his father would react, but when she'd asked if he wanted her their he couldn't lie. The blonde did want her there.

.

Hello all! Sorry it's been so damn long! I've had a lot on etc etc. Hope you liked this? I seriously wrote most of it months ago, so it's weird for me to reread. Feel free to read and review, your opinions are important to me! Thank yoouuu xx


	10. Chapter 10: Even You

Chapter 10: Even You

Hermione walked into the dinning room the next morning, where Draco and Narcissa were sat already having breakfast. Draco stood when she entered, pulling a chair out for her before asking. "What do you want to drink?" He was dressed in a normal black suit while Narcissa wore a black dress, anyone else would think they were going to a funeral. In some ways they were.

"Orange juice, thank you." They ate in silence, Hermione glancing up at the blonde opposite her every so often. A Christmas tree sat at the end of the room, glistening in the little light coming from outside. Grey clouds hung in the sky gloomily, as if they too could sense the day's activities.

"We're leaving in a few minutes." Draco stood and left the room, and she watched after him, unsure of where he was going. Narcissa cleared her throat from across the table and Hermione turned to her, almost forgetting the older witch was there.

"Thank you for coming with us, dear. Draco could really use a friend." The woman smiled before dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

"That's okay." Hermione returned the smile as best she could. Was she really Draco's friend? They hadn't discussed that before, only the truce. Perhaps the truce _did_ make them friends.

"You two get on very well don't you?" Narcissa asked before sipping from her glass.

Hermione nodded. "I suppose so, more than we used to anyway." The two women shared a small smile at how very true her words were.

"Draco admires you very much, I can tell." Hermione didn't know how to answer this, her cheeks began to turn pink and she looked down into her lap. Luckily she didn't have to answer as Draco returned.

"What should I wear?" Her present clothing consisted of simple dark blue jeans and her maroon coloured jumper. It was comfortable but she felt a bigger effort should be made on her part.

"Whatever you want. That's fine." He gestured towards her current attire dismissively.

"But you look quite formal." Hermione protested, glancing from Draco to his Mother.

"He's my father, not yours. You could go in your pyjamas if you wanted. He doesn't deserve you there anyway, I don't know why I agreed to this." He ran his hands through his hair, stress evidently beginning to build.

"Calm down, darling." Narcissa interjected, standing from her chair and walking towards her son.

"But she shouldn't be coming. We don't know what he'll do, what he'll say. If he's vile to her I might-" He stopped himself short, remembering Hermione was in the room. Also unsure as to _what_ exactly he might do.

"Hermione offered and knows perfectly well what might happen. Plus, your father won't say a word against her while I'm there." The older woman put her hands on his shoulders and he seemingly calmed down. A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes briefly.

"Narcissa is right. I know what I'm doing, I'll be fine." Hermione stood from her chair and went to join them. Draco opened his eyes and glanced at her, still looking unsure and dishevelled.

"Ok, ok. Shall we go then?" The three of them made their way down the stairs. "Let's get it over with." Draco mumbled to himself as they arrived at the front door. They stepped outside and a loud pop rang through the now empty manor.

Their eyes had to adjust when they arrived in the prison Apparation room, due to it's lack of light. It was impossible to Apparate anywhere else in the godforsaken place. Hermione coughed and spluttered, bending forward in distress, causing Draco to look down at her concerned. "Are you alright?"

"It just makes me feel sick sometimes." She informed him. Draco watched her eyes for a second until satisfied the sickness has faded from them, though fear still stared prominently back at him. A desk sat to the right of the room and Draco strode over quickly.

"Morning, Mr Malfoy." A gangly looking man with dirty skin and dark eyes spoke cheerily from behind the desk. On the wall over his shoulder hung hundreds of hooks, all holding their own key.

"Is he awake?" Draco went to lean an arm on the desk but decided otherwise when he glanced down to inspect it. Merlin only knew how many diseases might be festering on it.

"Of course. Here's the key, I trust you're not gonna try an' smuggle him out." Draco shook his head and took the key. Noticing the dirt caked underneath the man's fingernails, before turning to Hermione and Narcissa.

"Let's go." Narcissa nodded before leading the way quietly. Obviously anxious, yet slight excitement was evident in her step. Draco stood and waited for Hermione to reach him, all her features told signs of fright now, not just her eyes. Beginning to wander why she'd offered to do this.

"You don't need to be scared." He muttered, leaning towards her slightly as they began to follow his Mother through the corridor.

"Who says I'm scared." Her voice shook as she fought her hardest against the fear, putting up a confident front.

"Well, you're shaking, that tends to be a tell tale sign." Draco gestured in her general direction, and she looked down to see her arms were in fact shaking. _Crap_. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, am I?" He raised an eyebrow at her, a small smile on his lips. Hermione liked his smile, it was infectious and outlandishly comforting.

"I'm not exactly the person your Father is going to want to see." They emerged into a larger corridor with cells either side. The Gryffindor tried to keep her eyes to the ground, thinking of the childish saying; _if I can't see them, they can't see me._

"He may not even recognise you." Hermione glanced at Draco in confusion before having her attention taken by prisoner after prisoner, after prisoner. One man, or what looked like a man, leapt at his cell bars growling. Hermione jumped, grabbing Draco's hand without thinking. "Don't panic, they can't get to you." The blonde murmured soothingly.

"I know that, but it's still…" She trailed off when she felt her hand in his, and the fact he hadn't even noticed. In all honesty, he _had_ noticed, how could he not? It felt strange yet calming and weirdly normal. Their fingers sat perfectly between one another, Draco glanced down at them and so did Hermione.

"Sorry." She quickly let go, casting her eyes away from him as her cheeks flushed for the second time that day. Draco was about to speak when Narcissa came to a halt ahead of them, hands on the nearest cell's bars. Hermione's breathing increased, her chest rising a falling rapidly. They arrived and a tall man came into view, sitting on a wooden bed to the right of the cramped cell.

"Morning, Father." Draco turned the key in the lock and Narcissa rushed in, enveloping the man in a hug. Hermione watched in shock, unaware of just how much the older witch had missed her husband. Draco smiled at his Mother's happiness as she sat beside Lucius. Hermione got a better look at him now. Lucius Malfoy was old, older than Hermione ever remembered him. His hair was no longer blonde, but grey and thinning, his skin pale with a yellow tinge. The man didn't look healthy, but she supposed no prisoner would after a while in this hell hole. Hermione lingered in the doorway as Draco stepped further inside and held his hand out for his Father to shake, she found this odd. However, Lucius denied Draco's hand, instead pulling him into a hug. Draco stood rigid, not really hugging back.

"How have-" The older man coughed. "How have you been?" His voice was nothing like Hermione remembered either, it was more gravelly and quiet now. No longer holding the sense of self importance.

"Just fine." Narcissa chimed with a smile. What little light shown through the small barred window above them, revealed her hand clasping her husbands.

"Draco?" Silence lingered uncomfortably before the younger Malfoy male answered, voice empty of any emotion.

"Fine." He nodded once, feeling Hermione step further into the cell behind him and wishing she wouldn't.

"Who do we have here?" Lucius spotted their guest and Draco shifted quickly in response, guarding her with his body protectively.

"Miss Granger, you remember her dear?" Narcissa smiled at Hermione as Lucius's eyes bore into her.

"How could I forget?" Another cough echoed off the cell walls as the man glanced towards his son briefly, eyes shining with curiosity.

"She came with Draco." Lucius had already guessed as much but allowed his wife to confirm his thoughts.

"I see."

Hermione didn't know what to do, they were talking _about her_ so maybe she should say something. "Morning." She went to wave but quickly decided against it, tucking hair behind her ear in an attempt to hide it.

"How are things in here?" Draco changed the subject, strolling over to the bench on the left wall and sitting down. Hermione watched him and he gestured for her to sit beside him, nearest the door.

"You'd never know it was Christmas day." Lucius muttered before they fell into silence. Hermione had forgotten it was Christmas, how could she forget? She'd have to send her parents an owl when they got back to the manor. Narcissa held onto her husband for dear life, resting her head on his shoulder and running a hand up and down his arm. "How is Hogwarts?" The old man rested his cheek on top of his wife's head as he looked to Draco.

"Fine." The younger man shrugged. He always found these visits difficult because all he felt was disdain towards the man he was meant to love. It was his Fathers' fault, all of this. Everything.

"I see you're all making new friends." Dark grey eyes fell on Hermione, Lucius had very similar eyes to Draco's other than the colour. Draco's held hope while the older mans did not.

"Looks like it." There was silence again as Hermione fought the urge to explain about the new house unity at school. She was sure the ex-death eater wouldn't want to hear it, nor care. From then on Narcissa and Lucius had a conversation about the house and her plans for the garden. Draco sat staring into his lap as Hermione played nervously with a stray string on her jumper sleeve. There was one major difference with Draco's behaviour and that was the fact he was no longer scared. He used to always be silent out of fear, but now he was just angry, disappointed. When Narcissa and Lucius finished their conversation the old man turned to their guest.

"How are you, Miss Granger?" Hermione jumped when she was addressed and stumbled over an answer in her head, about to reply when she was cut off.

"Don't talk to her." Draco suddenly growled from his seat, teeth gritted tightly together.

"Draco, please." Narcissa leant forward where she sat, eyes pleading.

Lucius held his wife back calmly. "Don't fret, darling. If he doesn't wish me to speak to her I won't. Though, I wander if perhaps he should let her decide that for herself." The married couple looked at Hermione expectantly, but she didn't know what in the world to say.

"Just don't." Draco spoke firmly, not even bothering to glance at the woman sat beside him. His Father didn't have the right to speak to her. Hell, Draco himself barely had that right. Their family had caused her enough pain and grief as it was.

"Time's up folks." They all turned abruptly to see the man from the desk holding the cell door open. Draco quickly stood and put a hand on his Father's shoulder briefly, before allowing Hermione to exit first. Once Draco was also out of the cell, which he couldn't exit quick enough, they waited for his Mother.

Narcissa hugged and kissed her husband goodbye frantically, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "We'll be back soon." She cried. Lucius held his wife as she sobbed, whispering reassurances in her ear.

"Come on, Mother." She exited the cell when Draco spoke and the man locked it before starting back towards his desk. Draco hugged his Mother and put an arm around her shoulders as they followed the man, Narcissa holding onto her son tightly. Her tears had dried now, determined not to make things harder for herself or Draco. She could cry all she wanted when they got back to the manor. Hermione followed behind them silently, feeling awful for them and holding back her own tears. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to have a loved one in prison, a place where you were limited to seeing them half an hour at a time. The more she thought about it the more unbearable it seemed, it made her miss her parents. She'd go home tomorrow. They entered the Apparation room again and Hermione quickly took Draco's hand, before he even had time to offer it.

When their feet hit the ground outside the manor Narcissa hurried off, not wanting to sadden her son or embarrass herself further in front of their guest. "Thanks for coming with us." Draco watched after his Mother as he spoke.

"It's fine." Hermione's voice was quiet and she could feel the tears beginning to rim her eyes. "How long has he got in there?" She should have known, but Harry had kept her away from as much of the trail proceedings as he could after the war.

"He should be in there the rest of his life. But he could get out in ten years." Draco glanced at her and stopped when he saw the unshed tears. "What's wrong?" He moved towards her slightly, unsure of what to do. He never knew how to go about comforting someone upset.

"I…it's just…" The tears began to fall now and she frantically tried to wipe them away, desperate not to cry in front of him-in front of _Draco Malfoy_. "It must be so hard for you." A sob racked through her body and she hurried towards the house and through the door. Draco followed after her in alarm, what was she doing?

"Granger, wait." He called as he entered the house and saw her halfway up the stairs. "Granger, stop. Stop!" Draco climbed the stairs two at a time. "Hermione!" His voice bellowed loudly and she stopped in her tracks. Even he hadn't realised he was going to say it until it was out of his voice; her first name. He finally reached her and she turned to look at him, tear stains down her cheeks.

"You called me Hermione, why? Why?" Her voice was urgent and sounded terrified.

"Because that's your name?" Draco put his arms out, just short of touching her, as he didn't know what to do or how she'd react.

"You're not meant to call me that! You're Malfoy and I'm Granger. We don't do that-we don't!" Hermione rattled off urgently, shaking her head manically.

"Ok, ok. I won't call you it." The blonde watched her closely, she seemed to be having some sort of panic attack.

"But-but-" She gave a loud sob and stumbled backwards, back hitting the banister before she slowly melted to the step they stood on. Draco squatted in front of her, hands resting carefully on her upper arms, not knowing where else to put them.

"But what?" He asked quietly.

"I-I liked it." Hermione's head hung heavy as she cried into her lap, not wanting him to see. Draco stopped for a second, staring in surprise and confusion. She liked it? Liked what? The fact he'd called her Hermione? The only thing he thought might be right to do was what he did when Pansy used to get upset; hug her. He carefully moved forward and put his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. At first she sat rigid, until the warmth and comfort of his body relaxed her and she shoved her arms around him in return and rested her head against his chest.

"Just breathe, Granger." Draco glanced around anxiously as she sobbed silently into his suit jacket. Keeping her calm was perhaps the beat idea right now, and he could hear her begin to take his advice. This all felt very similar to the time he'd carried her after the attack from Peeves, the only difference now being she _wanted_ to be in his arms and she was hugging him back. It may have been the most peculiar feeling he'd ever felt. After a while of sitting their on the stairs he carefully lifted her and carried her to her room. The sobbing had died down and she seemed to have nodded off as he placed her on her bed. He retrieved a glass of water from the kitchen, wandering what in hell had happened. She'd had some sort of panic attack but what had caused it, he didn't think he'd done anything. Yet another mystery about the Gryffindor girl. When he returned to her room the small sound of her breathing filled his ears. He placed the glass on the dresser and pulled the stool out from beneath it. Proceeding to sit and lean forward, elbows on thighs. He tried not to watch the woman sleeping but found it difficult to draw his eyes away. Even with dry tears on her face she looked tranquil, he might dare say beautiful too. It was difficult to tell how long he sat there with her, the only indication of time being light coming through the glass doors. It was beginning to get dark when she woke, stretching and rubbing her eyes until she spotted him sat there.

"Oh no." She let out a groan and pushed her face back into the pillow regretfully.

"Good evening to you too." Draco scoffed, sitting up straight on the stool.

Hermione reluctantly rolled onto her side to look at him. "Erm-I…did I have a panic attack?" She struggled with her words slightly, still tired and very much able to remember how badly she embarrassed herself.

"I believe you did, yes." He nodded, hoping she would perhaps have some kind of explanation.

"Thought so." She groaned again, pushing herself to a sitting position and glancing out the glass doors. The sun had almost set which meant she'd been asleep for hours.

"Care to explain?" Draco crossed his arm, unsure if he even wanted to know.

"Well, they happen sometimes. Since the war…whenever I get overly emotional I have panic attacks. People being present doesn't help either." Hermione pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Watching as the blonde mulled over her response in his head, brows furrowed in concentration.

"Why?" It didn't make sense to him. He understood the whole idea of not showing emotions publically, being guilty of that himself. But panic attacks?

"I have a Panic Disorder, which covers a wide range of different types of panic attacks. Mine tend to be triggered by problematic emotions. My body just gets overcome with emotion and I panic." She wished she didn't have to explain this to him, but even though this was a very personal matter it felt okay to tell him.

"What emotions were you feeling?" Draco was staring at her, but quickly diverted his eyes when he realised this. He still wasn't sure what had set her off.

"I felt horrible, sad and distraught mainly I think. For you and your Mother." Hermione watched as his eyes returned to hers questioningly. "Having a family member in prison must be…" She trailed off and Draco ran a hand through his hair restlessly.

"Don't worry about us. We're fine, we're coping." The blonde stood abruptly from the stool, tugging at his hair again. He should never have invited her here, then none of this would have happened.

"Then you called me Hermione, and I guess it scared me." Hermione hugged her knees tightly, savouring the soft feel of the covers on her skin. Draco had began to pace, eyes darting around the room and evidently avoiding her. When she spoke he stopped abruptly, turning to face her.

"Scared you?" His shoulders were hunched with tension and he plunged his hands into his pockets.

"I guess so, I wasn't thinking straight was I?" Hermione was confused already, and his current behaviour was not helping. She could remember what it sounded like leaving his lips, how much she'd willed him to say it again. Of course he hadn't, her own actions had prevented that. Draco sighed quietly before sitting back down on the stool, contemplating for a second as silence engulfed them.

"Why did you agree to come here, Granger?" The blonde leant forwards on his thighs again, eyes searching her face.

"I…" She didn't know the answer to that. Deep down inside her there was an answer, but it was too far to reach right now.

"Out of pity? I don't need your charity, if that's why you came." Draco looked down at the carpeted floor, wishing he'd thought to ask her before now. Then perhaps this could have all been avoided.

"No! That's not why at all." Her eyes bore into his head, slightly hurt that he'd think such a thing. "I-it's just…You're not the Malfoy I used to know." She thought about getting out of the bed and going to him, but deduced that would probably not help.

"I'm not the changed man you seem to think I am, Granger." Draco muttered; face still staring towards the floor. "I've done horrendous things that I can't take back. I've sat back and watched people get tortured and killed." The distress in his voice grew as he rested his forehead on his hands. "I sat back and watched _you_ get fucking tortured, and I didn't do anything about it." Hermione held back a gasp, hand lingered over her mouth and fiddling with her lips. "I'm still the same coward."

"You're not." The only words that wanted to leave her lips sounded meagre.

"How can you be so calm about this? How can you even be in this house after everything that happened?" Draco closed his eyes tightly, hands rubbing over them briefly. Hermione couldn't help wander if he was going to cry.

"Everybody changes..." She climbed out of the bed and slid onto her knees in the small gap between him and the bed. "…even you." Hermione touched his chin lightly and he looked up at her, surprised at their sudden close proximity. There faces were inches apart again, like they had been in the garden a few days earlier. His eyes fell on hers and he could tell in an instant that she meant what she said. Only now did it sink in that she truly forgave him, and a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. Out of all the people he'd hurt, she was the one that mattered most. He didn't know why, nor did he care. Hermione stared back at him, aware of the small distance between them but preoccupied by his eyes. There was so much hidden behind them, so much pain-so much turmoil. It made her thankful she was already on the floor and therefore unable to fall from their impact.

"Granger…" Draco whispered, eyes falling from hers to linger on her lips briefly. His breathe mingled with her own, as their chests rose and fell in time with each other. Heartbeats increased with each passing moment and the blonde felt an uncontrollable urge to kiss the woman in front of him. He knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help himself. Hermione didn't know what to do, but allowed him to lean forward all the same. Within seconds his lips caught hers and she inhaled sharply at the contact. Their eyes fluttered shut and she could fell all inhibitions float away, the only thing that mattered right then was each other. Their lips moved slowly at first, Draco's hands moving to rest on her back as her arms stretched out over his shoulders. His tongue swept across her bottom lip and she carefully obliged, a shiver running down her spine when their tongues touched. Her nostrils filled with the smell of his cologne as he cautiously lifted her from the floor and put her on the bed. Before her back could make contact with soft surface, which she really wanted it to, alarms bells rang in her ears.

"Wait, wait." Her lips reluctantly left his as she pushed at his chest and he quickly leant away, giving her plenty of space. "What are we doing?" Hermione moved further away from him, excited but too scared to think about it.

"I thought that would have been perfectly clear." Draco sat on the edge of the bed. He had tried not to kiss her, but he was unable to fight it-he wasn't strong enough. He knew all the reasons why he shouldn't have, but he also knew all the reasons why he should.

"We can't." Her breathing was still ragged as she tried to tame her wild hair. "There's Ron and-"

"You're not with him anymore." The blonde blurted out, cursing himself inwardly almost straight away.

"We're only on a break." Hermione watched Draco's back, his breathing sounded slightly dishevelled too. Guilt swam over her at the thought of Ron, it was probably still seen as cheating and it made her feel awful. The man stood from her bed and made his way to the door, he put a hand on the doorknob before stopping.

"Well, I'll leave you to sleep them." He yanked the door open, about to leave.

"I'm going to go home tomorrow." She declared quickly, eyes still on his back.

"Right." With this last word he exited the room, closing the door behind him with a little too much force. The bang rang through Hermione's ears and she cringed. Once silence had settled across the house once more, there was an even louder bang that almost had the furniture shaking. Draco had slammed his own bedroom door. The Gryffindor lay back on her bed, eyes closed as what just happened played over and over again in her head. She'd kissed Draco Malfoy, and she couldn't say she didn't like it.

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Hello again lovelies. I thought I'd make up for the huge wait, by posting to chapters! :D Hope you like them and let me know what you think!


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